Perfect Flavor

Imagine my surprise this afternoon, when folding some laundry, I decided to also turn on Oprah and see if anything caught my attention. With her topic being “FOOD 101″ and her guests including Michael Pollan, author of 4 best-selling real food books, the most famous being “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and Steve Ells, Founder and CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, pioneer of healthy, real fast food, I knew I would be not only riveted to the screen, but could anticipate a certain rise in my blood pressure. As my husband would say: talk of real, sustainable, responsible food really lights my fire and gets me very revved up.

Perfect Flavor is interwoven into the stories of these two men and the documentary “FOOD, INC.” in a way that would be enviable to most sustainable food companies. Not only have I brushed shoulders with Pollan, who can be thanked for launching our current local & sustainable food movement into its current stratospheric position, but I have worked closely for the last year with the family and farm that is responsible for catapulting both “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “FOOD, INC.” into the public’s view: Polyface Farm and The Salatin Family

When we began the process of starting up Perfect Flavor, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” was the first book on local, real food that Colin and I read. We were stunned and so very pleased to discover that Polyface Farm and the Salatin family were located just miles away from our home and where we would eventually settle our production kitchens. Sheri Salatin, the daughter-in-law of Joel, married to Joel’s son, Daniel, was the first person I would contact in order to begin the process of sourcing all of our ingredients locally. It was Summer of 2006, and Sheri’s and my relationship has grown stronger and stronger ever since. I have much admiration and respect for what she and the rest of the Salatin family are choosing to do with their lives, that is: raise beef, pork, chickens, rabbit, eggs, and more, honorably and honestly.

How do we at Perfect Flavor fit in? Well, we started by buying eggs from Polyface for our ice cream in early 2008 at the launch of our company. We then teamed up with Polyface to begin selling our ice cream through their amazingly popular Buying Clubs, which are full of intelligent, well-educated and themselves honorable Buying Club Members, who once a month subscribe to this Club which allows them to order everything that Polyface produces. This is especially important because it gives folks in many cities in Virginia no excuse to buy grain-fed beef or antibiotic-filled chicken from a no-name source at the grocery store EVEN if they can’t make the trip down to Swoope, VA (pronounced Swope) located near Staunton, for a grocery store run. Through the Buying Club, everything Polyface has to offer gets delivered to a drop point located in central locations to where many of these members live, often in neighborhoods. These folks, when offered the chance to also purchase our handmade ice cream made with Polyface eggs and local milk, jumped at the chance, and we had a steady business from last March 2009 to December 2009 selling to Polyface’s customers everywhere from Williamsburg to Harrisonburg to Northern Virginia and beyond. It must be mentioned that Polyface only sells locally, meaning that the farthest north they will take their Buying Club is Southern Maryland. The farthest South currently is Central VA. For more info and to become a member, visit here! I was so thrilled to be a part of Polyface’s far reaching touch that I volunteered to ride on the delivery truck for one month with Polyface’s amazing delivery guy (for lack of a much more fitting term), Richard Morris, who has an inspiring story of his own pertaining to the lessons he learned in dealing with real, whole foods. Learn more about him here! My experience working with Polyface and Richard taught me absolutely invaluable lessons about the educated consumers out there who demand good food for themselves and their families. And this was what Oprah’s show was really about: the necessity for all of us to take the health of ourselves and our families back under our own control when it comes to the choices we make about the foods we eat.

As far as Chipotle goes, and our connection with it, it may be small, but I am proud of our ties to this wonder of a business. Firstly, when we started making cheese at Perfect Flavor, we were ending up with a fair amount of whey, which most industrial cheesemakers just dump down the drain. Not us! I went straight to Polyface and asked if we could donate our whey to them each time I came to drop off an ice cream order. They were happy to take our whey and feed it to their pigs. And from what I hear, the pigs loved it! Now, how does this connect with Chipotle? Well, did you know that the Charlottesville Chipotle location was the first to not only use outdoor, humanely raised pork, but that it was the first to use LOCAL pork. That’s right, and where do you suppose they get it from? Polyface, of course. So, every time I eat at our local Chipotle, I order nothing but the Carnitas pork option on the menu. With confidence, not only do I know that my meat is local, but that I am also eating a little bit of my whey from my own sustainable business as well!

I am happy to admit that I am both a member of the Charlottesville Buying Club and also currently have a half a pig in my freezer that most likely was fed our very own whey!

Now, I must note that due to my pregnancy, we are no longer supplying Polyface with ice cream or whey, and boy are our customers upset, the pigs in particular=) My hope is to do right by my family first, however, as the Salatin’s have chosen to do. In a long conversation with the always inspiring Teresa Salatin, Joel’s wife, we discussed how family should come first. Until I can reopen Perfect Flavor in terms of ice cream and cheese production, I will continue to gather my research and resources and share the good news about local and healthy food here on my blog.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank both Polyface and Michael Pollan for the chance to work along side their cause, even in the most humble of capacities. My experience has been priceless.

What is the prize for a diet high in protein?

Well, prior to being pregnant, I always assumed two things regarding high protein diets primarily: One was that folks on the Atkins Diet (which I tried out of desperation in college and quickly stopped 1 week in) consume lots of protein, and really only protein. Another aspect of a high protein diet brought to mind body builders downing strawberry-flavored powdered milkshake blends. yum…?

I never really knew until getting pregnant and beginning my childbirth education class focused on The Bradley Method that protein is good. Really good if you’re pregnant. In fact, contrary to what some doctors may say, a diet high in protein during pregnancy is really healthy for both mom and baby. Dr. Bradley, founder of The Bradley Method and an obstetrician from the middle of the 20th century until his recent death, recommends a daily intake of 80-100 grams of protein. Since I couldn’t really wrap my head around what this meant, but now after learning I understand how to incorporate healthy protein into my diet, I’m going to share what I know:

Protein can be found in many foods. Some have lots of protein, others don’t have as much. Foods high in protein are meat, dairy, grains, eggs and nuts. For example, a 3 oz (pretty small) serving size of steak has 20 grams of protein. Chicken of the same portion has 25 grams. Eggs have 6 grams each. A cup of milk (8 oz) has 8 grams, an ounce of real cheese 7 grams, and so on.

Why do I know all of this? Because as a student of The Bradley Method, I have homework each week in which I must record and calculate my daily protein intake as part of a well-balanced diet. In other words, I can’t just eat steaks all day and drink milk, even though my husband would argue that that is exactly what I do-at least when it comes to milk consumption. You see, unbeknownst to me, as I would fill out my daily protein intake on my little pink homework sheet and hand it in to my wonderful teacher, Jenny, she was actually examining everyone’s sheets and running a sort of “protein contest.” Well, as it turns out, my love for milk has paid off. Being that on a typical day I drink between one and two quarts a day, which results in between 32-64 grams of protein alone, I was the Number 1 protein consumer in my class. And I got a prize! It’s a beautiful little Peter Rabbit baby spoon.

Now, first of all, I was not expecting a reward aside from the most obvious prize of all: a healthy pregnancy and really healthy baby. But, I have to admit, getting recognized for my protein-packing abilities makes me feel good. Not to mention the fact that physically, I actually feel fantastic.

Here’s a nice, easy recipe to follow that helps you, pregnant or not, to get a healthy meal with a really healthy dose of protein.

Blue Cheese Steak Salad

Ingredients:

one 8 oz steak (about 53 grams of protein), preferably a locally raised cut like a Delmonico from Polyface Farm

a nice 4 ounce slice of locally made or artisan blue cheese, crumbled (28 grams protein)

1 cup pecans (24 grams protein), toasted at 350 degrees for 7 minutes whole in the oven, then chopped roughly

a big heaping portion of your favorite salad green: I like to use arugula for its spice, or romaine for its crunch. Spinach also works!

Salad Dressing (recipe to follow):

1 hard boiled egg (6 grams protein), pureed with the following: juice of two lemons, 1/2 cup olive oil, smoked sea salt or regular sea salt, white pepper or black pepper to taste, and anchovy paste if you’ve got it, just a couple squeezes from the tube. If you desire, throw in a 1/4 cup blue cheese to make a creamy dressing. Blend and pour over mixed salad.

Process:

Remove steak from packaging, pat dry with a paper towel while your skillet (preferably cast iron) heats on medium high. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper on both sides and place steak directly onto hot skillet. Set a timer for 6 minutes and DO NOT MOVE, POKE, PROD, or otherwise TOUCH. When six minutes is up, flip the steak, set timer for 6 more minutes, then remove to a cutting board to rest for ten minutes. This will produce a perfectly cooked steak, and depending on how thick, can range from a medium rare to medium well. A 1 inch thick delmonico yields a medium at my house. Do not cut into the steak before the ten minute rest is up.

Presentation:

In a large bowl, place salad greens and scatter still-warm pecans over greens. If you’re using arugula or spinach, the warmth from the nuts will help to wilt your greens to a nice texture perfect for this kind of salad.

Sprinkle on crumbled blue cheese.

Pour dressing over salad and toss.

Slice your steak thinly, plate your salad onto two individual plates, and arrange steak on top.

If desired, sprinkle some more pecans and blue cheese crumbles on top and enjoy while warm!

If shared between two people, for instance a pregnant lady and her partner, this meal yields a whopping 55.50 grams of protein per person, which is more than half of your daily required intake!

For dessert, throw in some ice cream (the real stuff!) or some whole milk yogurt with fresh fruit, and you’ve got a fantastic, delicious meal that is not only practically effortless, but also quick to prepare and a very easy way to get the protein you need with the smallest amount of hassle possible.

Look here for more posts concerning healthy protein-filled recipes as well as much more info on The Bradley Method and my adventures in childbirth education!

If you’re at Perfect Flavor reading our many blogs, then there’s not a whole lot I need to say to dignify this current marketing campaign with a response. We all know that HFCS is bad for us. Much research is currently being done to understand just how bad, in fact. Yikes. Just look at the political necessity for a corn syrup “push” behind these ads, and you’ll know that government subsidies alone are enough to want to CONVINCE the American consumer that corn syrup is good for us and just has a bad rap. I mean, after all, if we all stopped, heaven forbid, buying products with corn syrup in them, half of the grocery store would go away and what would we be left with? Fresh produce and meat that comes from farmers and farms who have chosen to not just specialize in corn production with the help and backing of the US government.

Maybe I’m coming to the party a little late, but I don’t watch TV much and just came across a slew of commercials, ads 1, 2 & 3, that make intelligent, educated foodies look like idiots and corn syrup lovin’ consumers look like the smartest people on the block. See the first ad about two moms at a party sharing a RED DYE #33 beverage together here, a couple in a park here, and two brothers who keep the brotherly competition alive here. What will they do next? Tell us that obesity, acid reflux, diabetes, and, dare I say it, cancer, are just a product of our imaginations?

Now, take a look at this parody. I think this guy says it way better than me!

As you can see, the topic of being mislead by big food producers for the sake of THEIR bottom line really gets me fired up. What can I say? I am a food crusader=)

To learn more about what this ad campaign is all about, visit SweetSurprise! To learn the truth about HFCS, read Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” or watch the documentary “King Corn” by filmmaker Curt Ellis.

It’s been a long time since we got rid of our microwave.  I must admit, after having grown up with a microwave, the thought of not having one in our kitchen was slightly scary.  What would we do if we needed to, gasp, reheat something?

Our reasons for getting rid of our microwave were not entirely wholesome.  We were renovating our kitchen and were worried that our current microwave’s location would be too close to the large and leaping flames of our new gas range getting installed directly underneath our behemoth of a microwave.  The microwave itself was probably installed in the 70s, as our good friend Samira and Philip can attest to, since they have the very same one in their condo which was built around that time.

So, with a little trepidation and a lot of hope for what our food future would hold, we ditched our giant microwave.

While prior to saying goodbye to this large device, we were making most of our food from scratch and not eating processed food TV dinners, easy mac, vegetable “steamers” or the like, I don’t believe we knew what a profound impact life with out a microwave would have on our family food culture.  Think about it, what foods can’t you prepare without the help of a microwave?  Processed, typically frozen foods, of course.  Just ask anyone who has, in desperation and sans microwave, tried to heat up a lean cuisine in the oven…what anyone would end up with is a bunch of semi-hot food surrounded by melted plastic-yum!

…also, as a side note, do we really need to be eating frozen “health food” anyway?  Take a look at the current Cambell’s Soup Select Harvest tv ad in which shoppers are blindfolded as they purchase their “health food” and ask yourself…should they be looking at the calorie content or should they actually just be reading the ingredients???  Yes, it is true that a lot of the American public walks around a grocery store with blindfolds on when it comes to intelligently discerning the ingredients present in the foods we eat, but guess what…no microwave = no processed frozen TV types of foods.

Colin and I have a hard time figuring out just how many processed foods we consume currently, the reason being that we do not consume much aside from the occasional bags of chips or crackers and the cereal (we try to find the best possible) that we eat in the mornings sometimes.  MOST of the food we eat, about 95% of it, in fact, is made from foundational ingredients, like unbleached flour, unsalted butter, local eggs, local meats, local or organic veggies and fruits, or both, depending on the season.  All of these ingredients, when used in conjunction with each other, can turn out some pretty tasty dishes that are really, really healthy for our family, and require no microwave to cook.

The bottom line is this:  If you want to make healthy food for your family, get rid of your microwave.  How to reheat that cup of coffee?  Pour the rest in a small saucepan and heat up over low heat.  What about defrosting that chicken?  Place the chicken in the fridge 1-2 days prior to cooking.  Also, you can defrost any piece of meat, sausage, etc quickly by placing it in a ziploc bag and then inside a large bowl filled with cold water.  Change the water out every hour, and within 1-3 hours your meat should be thawed.  (Do not think that running hot water over the meat will defrost it quicker-it will not…it will only harm the texture of the meat by cooking it slightly.)

When in doubt, think 19th century…how did they cook and heat food in the old days?  There’s no reason why we can’t figure this out in today’s culture!

As a family, we feel better when we eat real, healthy food.  We’re teaching our children about how to do this for themselves as well, which is an invaluable lesson.  Life with out a microwave may take a little more planning and organizing, but its values go far beyond tonight’s meal.  Good luck!

As I approach the birth of my first “bio” baby, and as a follow up to my previous post, “Battle of the Best Parent,” I actually laughed out loud at the profundity of this “Partnership for a Drug Free America” tv ad on TLC.

Just another reason why raising a teen is challenging.  Try standing your ground in a talk about something as serious as drug use to your teenager while being faced with eye rolls, back turning, etc.  It’s not an easy feat, but can mean the difference between life and death with your child.  Tough stuff.

This commercial really gets the message across!

Think about this: Cloth diapering is all pros and no cons.

Did you know that cloth diapering is cheaper than purchasing your regular run-of-the-mill plastic diapers? According to The Stork, a local diaper delivery service in Charlottesville, VA, even a cloth diaper service such as this can guarantee diapers at a cost of 33 cents/unit, which is the same as a unit of Huggies. This fee, to top it off, includes the diaper service itself. All one needs to do is throw a dirty diaper into a bag and wait for it to be picked up by The Stork at home. And what does this person get in return? Clean diapers, of course. Imagine how much less the cost is if you own your own cloth diapers and are washing them yourself?

And just how easy is it to wash cloth diapers? For a newborn who is nursing, it’s as simple as throwing them straight into the washing machine. For an older baby, diapers need only be rinsed in the bathtub or sink, then washed in the washing machine.

And how might we decrease the costs of cloth diapering even more? Instead of purchasing from a company that sells pre-fabbed diapers, send a cloth diaper sewing pattern to a mother, mother-in-law, or friend of a friend who sews. In all cases, offer to reimburse for all fabric costs and labor, unless of course, your friend or family member wants to offer these cute little white ones to you as a shower gift proxy. You could even ask them to modify the pattern to include a fold-over feature or a small dip near the front of the diaper for baby’s healing belly button.

Check out popular patterns here!

My mom is currently working on my diapers and I can’t wait to put them to good use!

Also, for you really easy breezy hippies out there, Gerber makes really cheap cloth diaper panels sold in packages of 4-6 that are so multi-purpose that you’re going to want them in your baby repertoire no matter what. Use them for spit-up clean ups, burp cloths, blankets, and babies who need an emergency diaper change or who are in-between sizes. Do keep in mind, though, that the sewing patterns offered above are very close to a one-size-fits-all baby, at least at the beginning. One pattern can fit a baby anywhere from 6-30 pounds!

Lest we forget that the best news to cloth diapering has got to be the next-to-zero waste factor. I think both baby and parents and sleep and breath easier knowing that their diapers are not sitting in a landfill somewhere.

Also, cloth diapered babies are less likely to develop diaper rash, as the outer layer of the diaper is made of cloth, not plastic. Plastic locks in moisture while cloth allows baby’s bum to breath!

One final tidbit: did you know that cloth diapered babies are more likely to potty train earlier than plastic-diapered babies? It’s because cloth diapers do not wick away liquid as magically as the infinite layers inside plastic diapers, therefore teaching your children a very important lesson: If they don’t like to feel wet, then they will learn how to remedy their situation naturally by using the toilet instead of the diaper. The average cloth-diapered baby is potty trained by age two.

woohoo!

this is me pregnant at 8 weeks. You can only imagine how big my belly is now...=)

Today I am 23 weeks pregnant! And what a celebration it is…

With 4.5 months of horrid morning sickness under my belt, I’ve seen a lot of improvements in my physical health in the past month. I’d like to think that my family, particularly my two teenage stepkids, ages 14 and 11(trust me, in girl years age 11 is classified in my book as a teen), are happy with my new demeanor as well. Due to my raging hormones, combined with their raging hormones, our home life has been a little less idyllic when it comes to the rocking-chair-knitting-in-front-of-the-fire-with-my-loving-children-at-my-feet picture that I often attempted to paint for myself. In fact, what pregnancy has done to me, I see now, is turn me right back into my hormonal, irritable, easy-to-anger teenage self. I can only imagine that my loving and overly-tolerant husband has had his fair share of 3 teenagers in the house. And he thought he married a beyond-her-years 26 year old. Sigh, I wish.

My pregnancy has certainly brought forth its fair share of surprising challenges when it comes to my ability to parent while at the same time growing a rather demanding (and heavenly) life inside of me. But I must say-I can take all of this. As my wise mother-in-law says quite frequently when faced with a tough situation, “This too shall pass.” And she’s right. What I’m having most difficulty with is not the often immature fighting and nagging that occurs in my house when someone forgets to flush the toilet, replace the toilet paper roll, or hang up their wet towel post-shower. I’m actually struggling most with what goes on in my little parenting/pregnancy world when I leave my house.

I feel that when I leave the comforts of my home and enter into the parent/pregnant lady environment these days, whether its a prenatal yoga class, a new moms group or other,  I am bombarded with what I’d like to call: “The Battle of the Best Parent.” Now, donning my battle armor when entering into these situations is not new to me. Being the young second wife of a man 14 years my elder, with two stepkids and an ex-wife in the mix has never been an easy fight. I guess I thought that I would feel like I had earned my stripes when, once pregnant, I could proudly tout the fact that yes, I am the mom of two teenagers and that this experience would make me ideally suited to being a parent of a newborn. After all, what other women do you know who are pregnant with their first but already have two kids at home? If anything, I should be handing out the advice, right? Wrong.

Apparently, according to almost all of the women whose children are under the age of two, I have no idea what I’m getting myself into. In fact, they even seem to think that I “have it easy.” Here’s an example:

When sitting in on my first, very large, prenatal yoga class in a room of twenty or so women, about half of whom are on their second pregnancy with an “under-24-month” old at home, we go around the class doing amicable introductions about who we are, how pregnant we are, and if we’ve got any kids at home. (I’m assuming this last offering of information is to help us feel the support of the other moms in the room; to induce a sense of empowerment and shared wisdom—boy, how wrong I am!) Everyone nods knowingly when moms express that they have a “20 month” at home and are due in a matter of months. “Wow, you’re brave!” is the response from most in the room. The instructor in particular coddling this woman with courageous euphamisms concerning the challenges she faces but the remarkable strength in which she’s approaching her situation. When it comes to me, I take a deep breath, gaze knowingly at every individual face in the room (well, not really, but you get the picture) and state that this is, in fact, my first pregnancy, but that I’ve actually got two stepkids at home, at which point the instructor begs the question: “Well, how old are they?” to which I respond, “Ages 14 and 11.” This is met with a response that again and again I am only beginning to be able to predict, much to my dismay. “A 14 year old and an 11 year old? That doesn’t count.” or “How fantastic, they can help babysit, change diapers, etc.” or “How easy it must be to have older kids.” or my personal favorite, “Teenagers practically take care of themselves!” The list of rather ignorant and condascending responses goes on and on…

Each day my husband returns home from work and I relay to him the newest response from my newest class members, to which he exclaims, “Next time that happens, you should just walk out!” It is, indeed, ignorant beyond my understanding that a woman would feel so insecure in her own role as a parent as to put down the arduous journey of another. Everyone’s got it tough, no matter how old your kids are, right? Well, maybe, but that’s not how I look at it. Instead, I accept parenting for what it is: an vastly enriching experience in which our children are our teachers. Each parent is experiencing their own set of lessons, and I am so grateful to be learning as much as I am from my kids. Of course being a parent can be hard. I have no doubt that changing diapers, tending to a crying infant, and being spit up upon are exchanges between parent and child that can be wearing no matter who you are. But what kind of karmic aftermath are you asking for if you expect that raising a teenager is a piece of cake and nothing like raising an infant or toddler.

Parenting is for a lifetime, and what I hope most for these women is that they not only accept that, but that they begin to embrace each others hard work, no matter how old the child.

After all, ironically I have more “experience” as a parent than all of them, being that, if I were to count in months how long I’ve been parenting Nick and Kate, I would have everyone beat by 26 months. And you don’t see me belittling their experience or holding that number above their heads.

If you’re the mom of a toddler and are expecting a baby, I respect your daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute hard work.

If you’re the mom of a teenager, I respect your daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute hard work.

Now, let’s just see if we can all work together.

Aebleskivers. When I came across the cast iron pan by the same name, I had never before encountered such a name and concept. What are they?

In essence, aebleskivers are pancake balls that, when cooked in oil in this very special pan, fluff up in the shape of perfect little globes that get eaten so fast once made that one can hardly keep a full plate on the table!

As seems to be usual for us, Colin and I purchased an aebleskiver pan long before they started to seemingly become popular. This past holiday season saw shelves filled with practically a different aebleskiver pan for each different recipe. I am here to say that you need just one pan and one recipe. This recipe, altered slightly to my specifications and desires, comes directly from the official Lodge Cast Iron cookbook entitled, “A Skillet Full of Traditional Southern Lodge Cast Iron Recipes & Memories.” This recipe was originally written by Sarah Kirkwood Lodge of the original Lodge family.

Here’s the recipe in all its delicious glory. You’ll find that these little pancake balls have a crispy, buttery texture on the outside with a doughnut-like, buttery, chewy texture on the inside. They really are nothing short of heavenly, and if you happen to have a group of grumpy kids or a husband who’s had a long week, there is nothing like a batch of aebleskivers to get everyone back on cloud 9!

Aebleskivers

Ingredients

4 eggs separated

2 tablespoons organic cane sugar

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (local is best, but King Arthur red bag will work)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick butter, melted

scant 2 cups whole milk

Method: please read all the way through before beginning

1. Melt butter slowly in a small saucepan and remove from heat when stick is almost melted but not quite. Swirl in the saucepan and you will have accomplished two things: melted the rest of the stick AND maintained a low enough temperature with the butter to not cook the eggs once added to the batter.

2. In the meantime, separate your eggs: yolks into a medium sized bowl, whites into the bowl of a mixer or just a separate medium bowl, making sure that your whites are free of any trace of yolk or other debris (except salt, see below), as any foreign ingredient other than the white itself will inhibit the whites’ ability to froth up and beat properly. Add the salt to your whites, which will help them beat up to an even stiffer and more stable peak.

3. Hand whisk your yolks until thickened and light in color. Add your sugar and continue to whisk until even thicker and lemon colored.

4. Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder) in a small bowl and retain your measuring cup in this bowl.

5. Measure milk into a glass measuring cup meant for liquid measure and set aside.

6. With your whisk in hand, begin to add dry ingredients 1/4 cup at a time and alternate with milk 1/4 cup at a time. This will aid in developing the cake-like structure of this batter. Also, and perhaps most importantly, if you’re a lump-freak like me, adding your ingredients alternatively and little by little this way will ensure that your batter will be lump free if you’re whisking vigorously as you add each ingredient.

7. Once all ingredients have been added, fold in melted butter with a large rubber spatula until just mixed.

8. In three batches, add your egg whites (which you could have had beating while preparing the batter), folding in slowly and gently.

***Now is when I like to add a little extra magic: Combine in a small cereal bowl 1/2 cup organic cane sugar with 1 teaspoon (or more depending on taste) cinnamon. Mix and set near your pan.

9. Heat your aebleskiver pan over medium heat and pour 1/2-1 teaspoon vegetable oil into each well. Allow oil to heat enough for frying. If your oil is not hot enough when you add your batter, the batter will soak up the oil before it has the chance to bake, and will be heavy and greasy. If you’re unsure of when the temperature has reached the right point, you’ll just have to do what I do: sacrifice a poor aebleskiver individual first and take a look at how it bakes, then proceed with the others.

10. I spoon out the batter with a medium-sized cookie/ice cream scoop, which helps make clean up a little easier and ensures that each ball is the same size. After the edges begin to look brown, 3 minutes or so, I use a fork to gently turn each ball over so that the batter side can form and cook. Basically, you’re going for a perfect sphere, so turning your ball over before all of the batter in the center is cooked means that the rest of the raw batter will mold to the well in the pan and thus create a perfect circle of decadence.

11. Remove aebleskivers one by one, rolling each in your cinnamon-sugar mixture until coated, then place on your breakfast dish.

12. When repeating cooking of all the batter, you may need to adjust your stove top temperature. I find that for my gas range, I must reduce the heat to low as time goes by because the pan tends to get very hot and my batter has the tendency to burn if I do not monitor the temperature very closely. Also make sure to add a new round of oil to your pan every second-third batch.

Once my first batch is done, I holler at the kids and wonderful husband to come in and eat. Usually by the time I finish each consecutive batch they are finished with the plate that came before. There are days when they are not as hungry, so I do not make all the batter into aebleskivers at once. Instead, I’ll use about half of the batter up and then make more aebleskivers the next morning or the morning after.

This batter makes about 40 pancake balls and can be kept in the fridge for up to three days.

Incidentally, a well-seasoned cast iron aebleskiver pan is the best (see my previous cast iron post), and cheapest, option. There are some nonstick options out there, which as usual, I do not trust both for their lack of long-term nonstick capabilities but also for the fact that teflon scares me. If you cannot locate the proper pan, consider this: the recipe recounted above can also be used to make waffles that are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, as well as pancakes AND pancake puffs (or special pancake as my kids call it, which is aebleskiver batter baked in a buttered glass dish in a 375 degree oven until puffy and golden).

Yum, now I’m hungry!

Recipe Variations:

Want chocolate aebleskivers?  Substitute 1/8 cup cocoa for 1/8 cup flour and continue recipe like normal.

Want savory aebleskivers? How about chive & chevre?  Substitute 1/2 cup fresh chevre for 1/2 cup milk and add 1/2 cup chopped chives.  For other cheese variations, keep milk content the same and add 1/2 cup shredded hard cheese to batter.

yummy aebleskivers, pronounced "able-skivvers" according to my authoritative knowledge!=)

We’re talking about The Mouseworks, a company that makes treasure built from other companies’ trash.

Ryan Williamson, owner and chief Mouse of The Mouseworks, makes fleece hats and other fleece goodies from leftover fleece materials that would otherwise be useless to large fabric companies and clothing factories.  These perfect sustainable hats not only look good, they make you feel good when you purchase them for your family, friends, and of course, yourself.  Oh, and they are the warmest hats I’ve ever donned.

Ryan works out of his Earlysville, VA studio just a few short minutes from where I live in Free Union, VA.  When I stopped by just two days shy of Christmas to pick up some hats for Colin, Nick, and Kate, Ryan was obliging enough to not only give me a full tour of his workshop, but was also a fantastic sounding board for all things sustainable and good for our community and planet!  He’s even had Perfect Flavor ice cream before, which is always great to hear.

Now, I must pause to make sure I make everyone aware that Mouseworks fleece hats are a coveted item in my family.  Since practically day one of meeting and knowing Colin, I have heard about these amazing little hats made by an even more amazing and driven entrepreneur.  So, when Colin asked for one for Christmas this year, (as the hats he used to own have been stolen by practically every member of the family, including myself), I jumped at the chance to deliver!

Of course, upon arriving at Ryan’s studio, I could NOT help but pick out a hat for Nick, Kate, and oh, myself, as well.

This is a business that is doing the right thing and making a lot of people very happy.  I look forward to seeing The Mouseworks grow and grow.  Oh, and even if you don’t live in Free Union, have no fear…Ryan ships all over the country!

themouseworks.com

Our family is big on cast iron. And that’s probably understating the very state of our cast iron collection…

Kitchen calisthenics is practiced most when small hands and wrists try over and over to carry a cast iron skillet or dutch oven from stove top to sink. I do believe that Colin is the only one who can successfully tip and pour out the contents of our 10 inch skillet with one hand, although Nick, at 5′8″, is certainly gaining speed on his dad.

Colin and I both, before meeting, owned 1-2 cast iron pieces. All were essentially skillets, while one of mine was a skillet with a grill pan feature imbedded in the bottom, which I used for grilling fish, burgers, or making panini.

Since we’ve fallen in love (with each other AND cast iron), over the last almost 4 years, our collection has grown considerably, with now more skillets, dutch ovens, pans, etc than I can count accurately. Not only is cast iron our preferred vessel for cooking everything from omelettes to stocks to braised beef to tomato sauce due to its amazing nonstick attributes, BUT cast iron is the absolute most inexpensive line of cookware out there today. It also lasts the longest. And what product has withstood the test of time more than cast iron? Look back into the centuries and cast iron is there: in paintings, cookbooks, you name it. Even Thomas Jefferson used cast iron. And while you may not consider it fancy or elegant, do consider this: Ask any chef out there what cooking vessel they could not live with out, and I bet they’d answer that their cast iron skillet is it. Just check out Mark Bittman’s article on cooking with cast iron and the benefits that ensue.

Lodge Cast Iron is the most popular brand of cast iron cookware, and if you happen to live near an outlet, take FULL advantage! Colin and I always stop in to the Gatlinburg, Tennessee outlet on our way to and from my parents’ house in Madison, Alabama. The Lodge manufacturing headquarters itself is located in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. In fact, this cast iron foundry started by Joseph Lodge is still in production after more than 100 years.

Cast iron is loved for its even heat distribution, natural (not teflon) non-stick qualities, and over all resilience. It is also quite easy to take care of, contrary to what you may have heard. (See Mark Bittman’s article for more info.) In our house, we buy pre-seasoned cast iron cookware, even though buying your cookware unseasoned would be just as easy to get up and running (and a bit cheaper). Slightly different from Bittman’s seasoning advice, (and no, we are not seasoning with salt and pepper, that comes later…) Colin likes to season our pre-seasoned cookware often immediately after purchase and any time it begins to start looking “dry” or rusty. We simply pour a bit of vegetable oil in our pan and wipe throughout with a paper towel. We then place our cookware in a pre-heated 250 degree oven for an hour, then cool. Then repeat. Done!

Seasoning cast iron with a touch of oil and heat procures a true non-stick pan that requires little effort to keep glistening and smooth. Just remember that cast iron does not go in the dishwasher (I think its weight would probably break the flimsy plastic shelving anyway!) and that we do not use soap in our house to clean it, just a steel scouring pad. If we must, we soak our pans overnight to loosen up any cooked-on pesky bits of food. Otherwise, it’s scour, rinse, pat dry and store. Leaving any residual water drops in a pan overnight can result in rusting. But have no fear, to remedy this problem would simply mean another brief round of seasoning.

If you’re interested in starting a collection of your own, here is what I would recommend to get you started:

1 8 inch skillet

1 10 inch skillet

1 10 inch dutch oven with lid (which by the way you can even bake CAKES and BREAD in!)

and that is it my friends!

Cast iron is the true stove to oven to table cookware. In fact, for those of you who do not know, the fancy Le Creuset line of cookware is simply cast iron covered in shiny painted enamel.

Coming soon…I will detail a few of my favorite recipes as well as highlight some specialty pans and the special recipes that go along with them.

Check out Lodge Cast Iron to learn more!