Everyday Croutons

Posted in Advice, Salads by

Everyday Croutons (Vegan)Last Thanksgiving I bought three bags of plain, dried bread cubes to turn into stuffing. Turns out we only needed one bag. The unused bags sat in the cabinet for nearly six months. Typical, right? A few weeks ago I was clearing out old food in my cabinets and saw the now very old and very stale bread cubes and decided not to throw them away (my mother would be so proud), but instead to make croutons. No one died, and everyone liked the croutons. 

The next week I went in search of more bread cubes (the plain kind, not the kind from Pepperidge Farm, but the kind bakeries often cube up and bag at the end of the day), but I couldn’t find any. About that same time I was opening up a fresh loaf of my favorite bread (Alvarado’s Sprouted Wheat Multi-Grain Bread found in your grocer’s freezer) and was about to toss the hated-by-all heel into the compost when it occurred to me that I could transform both heels of the loaf into croutons. Sure, for years I’ve saved the odd heel on a loaf for bread crumbs, but never croutons. It’s not exactly revolutionary or original, but damn, it sure does make me happy to know that each week I can make a fresh batch of croutons from my super-healthy, tasty bread and save a few heels from the bottom of the compost heap.

Everyday Croutons

  • Heels from your favorite loaf of bread, cubed (I like to cube my bread super small because I don’t like gigantic croutons that scrape and scratch the roof of my mouth)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt

In a small skillet warm your olive oil. Add garlic and cook until slightly softened. Add cubed bread and salt. Continue to cook until bread cubes are completely dried out and crunchy, about 5 minutes. Let cool and store in a glass jar.

Croutons

VB6 by Mark Bittman

Posted in Nutrition/Health News, Things I Love by

Vegan Before 6Anyone who follows this blog knows that I think Mark Bittman walks on water. So it’s no surprise  that I devote this blog post to his latest genius offering: VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 To Lose Weight and Restore Your Health For Good.

As someone who has been veganish for over two years, I loved his practical, non-dogmatic approach to veganism. Vegan militants be damned. After nearly 30 years of being a vegetarian, I turned veganish after one viewing of the movie Earthlings. Just like when I became a vegetarian after reading Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, I was truthfully simply grossed out. And then I started reading more and more about negative health affects of dairy and the environmental damage caused by dairy cows, and well, I just pretty much gave it up. But I’m not a freak about it (even if my children say otherwise); like everything, it’s all about moderation and just eating real.damn.food.

Bittman’s journey toward become veganish was not at all the same path as mine. He isn’t even a vegan! The man still eats everything. It’s just that a few years ago he went to his doctor who basically told him that the only way he was going to radically affect his health was to go vegan. Bittman, ever the moderate, stepped back, assessed the situation and came up with a plan. As the title suggests, he doesn’t eat meat or dairy before 6pm. Well, sometimes he does, but if so then he makes amends and eats vegan for the other meals or all of the next day, etc. It’s pretty darn simple and doesn’t have to be a life sentence of deprivation. In the space of a few months, he lost 35 pounds and his cholesterol levels dropped radically.

The other drum that Bittman beats in the book is to just eat real food. Don’t eat crap. Don’t eat processed foods. Don’t eat junk food (well, if you do, just atone for it by balancing it out with some fresh fruits and veggies). Don’t drink sugary beverages or diet beverages (have you seen the latest findings on just how EVIL diet beverages are? If not, click here and then run quickly to anyone you know who regularly consumes Diet Coke or Diet Blah Blah Blah and tell them to please, please stop drinking them!). Basic stuff.

I got this book the day it came out (I know, I know, I’m a total groupie) on April 30. Since that time I’ve already made seven recipes and earmarked more to make next week. Once I start remaking the recipes, I’ll be posting a few of them here. In the meantime, if you want some basic, feel-good life advice about how to eat more plants and less junk get the book. It’s not a “diet”  because we all know diets don’t work, rather it’s about a lifestyle change to make you and our precious planet healthier.

All hail Bittman! Ok, that’s over the top, I know, but damn, the man is so right on.

Dorian O’Connell’s Dessert Club in Boulder

Posted in Colorado Food Stuff by

dessert club

As much as I love attending networking events, sometimes I’d rather just be cuddled up reading in my in bed at 7.30pm (or hell, even 4.30pm). On a wintery evening a few months ago  I extracted myself from the comfort of my home and pushed myself out the door and went to yet another event determined that I’d only stay 10 minutes, but then I met Dorian O’Connell.  We started talking and talking and talking. Turns out that Dorian had just landed in Boulder a few months before and has a wealth of culinary experience. She told me she had just started a blog because she was bored and already had thousands of followers. Yes, thousands. That might have something to do with the fact she was once voted Pastry Chef of the Year, as well as being employed as Thomas Keller’s Pastry Chef at the Bouchon Bakery in Napa Valley and at The French Laundry. Yup, she’s extraordinary.

While juggling working on a local farm and kitchen work at Zuke, Dorian has also started a weekly Dessert Club. She sends out an email once a week letting you know what she’s making and the cost. You decide on a weekly basis if you want to order; no contracts or long-term commitments. She uses only the finest ingredients, no added preservatives or artificial flavorings. The desserts vary from chocolates, to pastries, to breads to whatever you request. I just had Dorian cater a dessert party I hosted and her treats were the hit of the evening! And if you don’t want to order weekly, you can also just pick whatever you’d like from her site and she’ll make it for you. And if you don’t see what you fancy on her site, I bet she could make whatever it is you desire. To learn more about what she does check out 101 Sweet Pastry or her personal website and prepare to be wowed.

Oh and get this, last week she was contracted to cook dessert for Anthony Bourdain, but he stood her up. Anthony, you don’t know what you missed!