Olive stuffed whole wheat rolls

I have a few jars of olives that I brought here to AZ from Austin, you know, my old company Foods of the Gods.  So I took a jar of Provolone Cheese Stuffed Green Olives packed in Shiner Bock Beer.  So I thought those would be perfect for stuffing into rolls.  They have a spectacular beer flavor and the cheese melts when they are warm and that salty bite of the olives, yummmmmmmy.

So, to start, make a nice stiff whole wheat dough.  3 cups warm water, 2 tablespoons honey, a tablespoon of yeast and a teaspoon of sea salt.  Add enough whole wheat flour to make a thick paste.  Allow to sit and rise at least 2 or 3 hours.  Overnight works as well.  This is just to get a lot of the bran saturated with liquid so that you can make a stiffer dough. 

Mix in enough whole wheat flour to make a semi stiff dough and knead for 9 minutes.  It should pull away from the bowl and look like this, still a tiny bit sticky, but stiffer than normal for whole wheat loaves.  Cover a couple sheet pans with parchment paper.  Take a golf ball sized piece of dough and flatten it out a bit.  Then drain three olives and place them cheese hole down.

 Pull the edges up around the olives and pinch together to form a tight ball of dough surrounding the olives.  The holes with the cheese stuffed into them need to be pointing down that way when you form the ball, and place seam side down, the open end will be pointing up and the cheese when it melts in the baking process won't come out into the roll but will stay in the olives.

 Once you have the first one done, continue to make the rest of the rolls using all the olives.  Certainly you can stuff a lot of different things in there, Italian sausage and peppers and onions.  Scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese.  Almond butter and raspberry preserves.  Kimchee.  Sauteed mushrooms and onions in a Marsala sauce.  Feta cheese, spinach and garlic.  Olive relish.  Chopped weiners and pickle relish with mustard.  Hey, use the old noggin and come up with your favorite.

Let them rise about a half hour or a bit longer if needed, until at least double in size.  Take a razor blade and cut a cross in the top of the buns.  The cut is actually necessary.  It helps the rolls to rise up and not outward.  As the dough sits rising a tough skin forms around the roll.  Same for loaves.  It you cut the top, when you toss into the oven, the heat causes a huge burst of yeast activity and a tremendous growth in the roll.  If the tops are not cut so that rising can go up, then the entire roll will expand outward, and sometimes split if the skin is dry enough.  

Bake at 400 for about 20 to 24 minutes, or until nice and browned.  Cool, bag to freeze some.  Heat to serve and serve with lots of mustard. 

Ketchup that is free of sugar and that poison -HFCS

Just got asked by a woman while at Sprouts, how does she enjoy ketchup when everything on the shelves had High Fructose Corn Syrup in it.   Well, there is one brand I used to find at Central Market in Austin that contained organic evaporated cane juice; but no such product could I find there.  But I did at one time give classes in making condiments back at the store in Austin.  So I thought I would update that old recipe and make it completely without sugar.
Well, ketchup is really just a mix of tomato puree, sugars, vinegar and spices.  The fact that the sugar is there in such high concentration with the tomato puree and the vinegar bringing the pH down low enough that the thick viscous liquid becomes virtually a poor breeding ground for bacteria.  My ketchup will need to be refrigerated as without sugar, that lack of viscosity, even though the pH may be low, bacteria will still grow on the finished product.  So, let's start.

Take a half cup of stevia leaves and place in a saucepan with 2 cups apple cider vinegar.  Add 2 cinnamon sticks about 3 or so inches.  Add 10 cloves and about a third cup of allspice berries.  I also like to add 10 garlic cloves and 20 dried chipotle chilis.  Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and put a lid on it and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes.  Take 3 28 ounce cans tomato puree, add to a large saucepan and bring to a simmer.   Put the vinegar mixture into a blender jar and blend until all the pieces are very fine.  Pour it into the tomato puree and add a tablespoon of sea salt.  Cook at a simmer for an hour or so, uncovered.  The sauce will thicken and when thick, pour into jars and seal.  Put in the fridge and serve with oven fries, veggie burgers, or any of a host of things you use regular poisonous ketchup on. 

Truvia/Nectresse "NATURAL" Sweeteners?

Third installment in the sweetener controversy.  This one is about the ALL NEW - ALL NATURAL- ALL GIANT MONEY MAKING BANDWAGON RIDING WAVE OF all natural LIFE AFFIRMING WONDROUSLY CALORIE FREE sweeteners, Truvia and Nectresse.  Cargill and Coke came out with Truvia awhile ago and their claim that it is all natural is a huge crock.  I use stevia leaves in my mint tea all the time.  I steep the leaves in hot water.  Cargill claims the same thing, they make tea out of natural stevia. Then they process it.  The actual Coke patent for the process outlines a 40+ step process that includes the use of acetone, methanol, ethanol, acetonitrile, and isopropanol to "purify" the stevia extract.  I'm sorry, whatever happened to just using an evaporator to dry out the stevia tea to get stevia powder?  Anyway, the FDA took just three weeks to approve this "ALL NATURAL" process and grant it GRAS status.  Money talks as we have seen in the past.
Nectresse is the newest product in the lineup of all natural sweeteners.  It comes from Lo Han, or Monk fruit.  Monk fruit are 150 to 200 times sweeter than sugar.  McNeil, the makers of the very toxic Splenda, are the makers of this new product.  I have not found the info on how the Monk fruit is processed, so I can't really comment on that at this time. 

What I can comment on is the MAIN ingredient in Nectresse and Truvia.  Erythritol.

Erythritol is a naturally-occurring sweetener found in many fruits, in nature it is present in such small amounts (less than .005% by weight) it’s impractical to use natural sources.  So Cargill and McNeill manufacture erythritol by chemically converting genetically modified corn into a food grade starch which it ferments to create glucose and then processes further to create erythritol.

Shame on the FDA for allowing the deceptive advertising by these giant agribusinesses to state that these chemically made artificial sweeteners to state that they are "ALL NATURAL".  They are not in anyway all natural, they are made using toxic chemicals and are as far from natural as shoe leather is from a cow.  

Giant Ants are coming! It ain't just plain ol' salmon!

Remember those "B" movies of the 50's and 60's?  Giant ants, Godzilla, huge scorpions and other tiny beasts of nature growing to enormous proportions because of the scare of nuclear fallout.  Well, it made fun movies and TV, but the only lasting effects of fallout has been increased cancer rates.  In the case of residents of Minsk north of Chernobyl, 60% of births have birth defects.  But no giant ants.  Not yet, but these times, they are a changin' as the old song says.  A new and horrific threat to Americans is now on the horizon.  Genetically Engineered Salmon.  Salmon farmers want to desparately introduce these to the unsuspecting consumers.  And they want to sell them without specific labeling that states that they just plain salmon.  Nothing about genetically modified.
The salmon in question are engineered by inserting a gene that produces growth hormone in large enough quantity that the fish grows to a mature saleable size in one year instead of three, the normal time frame for farmed salmon.  I don't think that I am the only one out in the real world that sees the problem with this.  The National Academy of Sciences is against allowing anyone to make these fish.
Problems that are pretty evident:

1. Farmed fish regularly escape containment and then breed with native populations.
2. NO RESEARCH has been done on the long term effects of what eating GE salmon does.
3. Developers state all fish are triploidal (sterile females) but have done no research to determine if this man made genetic variation holds throughout life cycle of fish over one year if a fish "accidently" gets released into natural environment.
4. Using only 6 (SIX) fish to test allergenicity of this mutated fish is NOT adequate testing.
5. AquaBounty Inc, states in their application for approval to the FDA that the gene spliced into the fish did not alter over successive generations.  Hmm, see item 3 above.

Some of the stuff that I read makes me think back to those old giant creature movies.  Let's be realistic, no long term research has been done.  Just like all the other GM foods, they didn't do any long term testing and now we have sound evidence that the BT toxin gene, and the gene to allow plants to survive mega doses of glosophates transfers to the intestinal bacteria in humans.  How do we know that if we as humans eat this salmon, will the growth hormone gene also insert itself into the bacterial flora in our intestines.  If it does, will the bacteria then begin to excrete growth hormone into our systems.  And what about the fish that escape into the natural environment?  Will they indeed become the prevalent species in the wild?  And what about creatures that feed on salmon, will they, just like humans, begin to grow uncontrollably?  Will we have giant bears in the wild, giant sharks, giant ants?

One of the scary things about all of this controversy over Genetically Engineered food items is what happens if people like me are proved to be correct.  What happens when we find that BT toxins building up in our systems causes cancer, heart disease, birth defects or whatever?  What happens if humans start to grow uncontrollably because they eat a lot of GE salmon?  If all this becomes provable, does Monsanto, AquaBounty and other gene technology companies have the resources to handle trillions of dollars in lawsuits filed against them.  But then again, since the heads of Monsanto, along with Obama himself, only eat organic food and not their own poison, then perhaps they believe they will be the only ones left to repopulate the planet after killing off all the riff raff.

A Modern Miracle, GE Foods

I remember 1996 when the scientists from Monsanto went before the Congress and testified how according to all of their research and testing, genetically modified foods are absolutely indistinguishable from their non-modified counterparts.  Wow, all I can think now is, What research?  What testing?  Princeton researchers, not exactly some fly-by-night group of scholars, have PROVEN that the implanted genes migrated to bacteria in the guts of the hosts that eat the GE food.  BT insecticide is now PROVEN to accumulate in the human body, with significant amounts showing up in blood samples.  And worse, it shows up in fetal blood samples.  Biotech giant Monsanto stated that BT is insignificant as any amount ingested will be destroyed by the human digestive system.  At this time, NO research has been done on the long term effects of BT toxin in the human body. NONE. Again, What research?  What testing?
Monsanto is making billions on glyphosate sales because the use of Roundup weed killer has in fact lead to the natural evolution of Roundup resistant weeds.  There are now 28 species covering 16 families of weeds that are confirmed to be not only resistant to glyphosate, (Roundup) but also 2,4-D which is that wonderful toxic stuff from Vietnam, Agent Orange.  Agent Orange sales have increased from 3.3 million pounds in 2009 to an estimated 100 million pounds next year.  These are toxic chemicals that we KNOW do not break down in the natural environment for years and ANY residues on foods accumulate in kidneys, liver, pancreas and brains of humans.  Again, What research?  What testing?
Monsanto and other companies are now making billions of dollars on the sales of pesticides.  That's because of the natural evolution of insects that are BT resistant and so their wonderful GE plants have to be sprayed with ever increasingly toxic pesticides because the BT gene is failing to deliver what was promised.  Again, what research?  What testing?
Some friends asked me why I am so adamant about eating organic, and never eating anything that might possibly be GE.  And why am I so vocal about people in California voting yes on Prop 37.  Because I survived modern medicine.  I am alive after the best efforts of doctors, nurses and the health care system attempting to kill me.  I DO NOT want all my efforts to be in vain because the food I eat is poisonous in order that Monsanto can make huge profits.

What do you want?

The Secret to Baby Soft Skin

Not much of a secret really, but so many companies make huge profits making and selling cures for dry skin, eczema, psoriasis, dandruff and any of a whole host of skin conditions.  The truth of the matter is that most skin problems are nutritional deficiencies.  Pretty simple, and it is one thing that big businesses NEVER want to be publicized.  Why would they, if found out that they could eat brown rice 5 times a week then their skin conditions would magically disappear.  Millions of dollars worth of dandruff shampoos are sold every year to cure something that a healthier diet would cure.  Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on hand lotions and creams and unguents to soften skin, remove scaly dead cells and to make the users feel good about themselves.  Fresh raw vegetables, whole grains, especially brown rice, and eliminating most of the toxic additives from processed food will do the same thing.

Weird huh?

Certainly a lot of this is conjecture, however I have had the great good fortune to teach healthy cooking and the use of whole grains in your diet.  I have counciled five people about dry skin problems.  And one about her psoriasis.  All six had already been interested in pursuing a change in their lifestyles when they came to me to learn bread baking and other nutritional info.  Each of them told me they would try adding brown rice to their diets, and I am pretty sure they did as each of them attended most of the brown rice cooking classes I gave.  (I make really cool stuff)  Each of them later told me how much their skin conditions improved after just a few weeks.  And one, told me how her dandruff disappeared. 
I have pretty soft skin, you know sometimes in the winter it gets a bit dry.  But for the most part I don't have any of those problems.  I can tell when I haven't eaten brown rice much, (I am staying with my sister currently so I don't always have the opportunity to cook what I want) the skin around my heels will start to flake.  When that happens, I eat brown rice and poof, a couple days and it is like magic. 
This isn't a cure all panacea for all skin problems for all people.  Or for that matter for intestinal problems like Krohn's, IBS and some others that are helped by a high fiber via whole grains diet.  But for most of the population, it will indeed be magic.

Cajun Fusion

I love spicy food.  I didn't used to, I grew up with ketchup on everything.  A bit of flavor, and it was needed.  Sorry mom, but cooking was not your forte.  At the tender age of 14 I started to work and was employed by a nice man that introduced me to a whole new world.  A lot of that was at restaurants, salsa, and of course, in Mexico.  I loved to travel to Mexico for my job and eat there.  I was 15 and eating stuff from taco carts and seafood shacks in Penasco or Guaymus.  And chilis.  Loved those chilis and good homemade tortillas, seafood, and fresh salsa.  Wow.  Later, I started to eat other cuisines and found that same satisfying burn in other places.  Love Thai, love some Korean.  And loved Cajun.  Man I love Cajun food.  When I had the cooking store in Austin I taught Cajun cooking classes a lot, and they were well attended.  I do tend to make healthier versions of Cajun, and the stuff is mighty tasty.  I like it a bit hotter, but that is always up to the individual to adjust the spices to suit your own individual taste.  So, to that end, let me give you this cool and unique Fusion Cajun recipe.

Garbanzo Chile Waffles with Healthy Seafood Etouffee.

Start off making the Etouffee.  Peel and save the shells from a pound of shrimp.  Set the shrimp aside and season them with about 3 tablespoons of Cajun seasoning.  (recipe for your own seasoning mixes at www.AustinHealthyCooking.com/spicemixes.htm )  Take the shells and put into a large stockpot, cover with water and add whatever you have in your trash bag you keep in your freezer.  Onion skins, ends of celery, stuff like that.  Always a good idea to keep that stuff around for stock and if you usually toss it, well, don't.  Add some peppercorns, a half dozen bay leaves and bring to boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or so.  Now, take 3 bell peppers and dice in quarter inch dice.  Do the same with two big onions, and then chopped pretty finely at least 6 or more ribs celery.  Dump about a 1/4 cup olive oil in a large sauce pan.  Add a third the veggies and about two tablespoons of Cajun seasoning.  Cook the veggies until soft.  About 8 minutes.  Add another third of the veggies, and continue to cook until soft and beginning to brown.  It should be very aromatic with the spices in there.  Now, add another 1/4 cup olive oil and a 1/3 cup AP flour.  (unbleached organic of course) and continue to cook, stirring a lot until the whole mess is very brown.  Add the remaining veggies along with about ten or more cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped.  Now, drain the shrimp stock and add about 3 cups of it to the saucepan.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Add some cayenne or hot sauce to kick up the heat if desired.  (Yeah, it should be)  Take a few fish fillets and cut into bite size pieces and dust with Cajun seasoning to coat.  In a separate skillet, with a thin coat of olive oil, cook the shrimp just until they turn pink and start to curl.  Remove from pan and hold in a bowl.  Well, go ahead and dump half of them into the saucepan.  Now add a bit more olive oil and toss in the coated fish.  Cook until browned and then dump them into the saucepan.  Deglaze the pan with a half cup good beer and dump that into the saucepan as well.  Now, make the waffles.
Grind a cup of garbanzo beans with a half cup wheat berries in your wheat grinder.  Okay, not everyone has one of those, you can buy garbanzo flour in most store now and use whole wheat flour.  Mix in a half teaspoon sea salt, two teaspoons baking powder and a tablespoon Cajun seasoning.  Mix well, add a 1/4 cup olive oil, an egg and 1 cup milk.  Mix well.  Add a small 7 oz can green chilis if desired.  Or chopped jalapenos.  Spray your hot waffle iron with non-canola spray and make waffles.  These will be yummy, and make sure they are very crisp.  Put a waffle on a plate, add a ladle of the sauce mix and top with a couple of shrimp and garnish with lots of chopped parsley.  Very fun, very unique interpretation of a Southern dish.