the curve of the earth

The topography of Indiana and bits of Western Ohio is flat, flat, flat. So flat, Zach joked, we could see the curve of the earth.

{Food for Thought} Better Baking

Christmas is around the corner, which means baking season is upon us! I'm not going to be able to do much this year since I should be am busy writing, but typically, this is the time of the year where you'll find me in the kitchen all day, prepping various refrigerator cookies, making 'crack' toffee, chocolate fudge, truffles, cookies, and pies. I love to bake, and bake a lot. I figure, if you are going to take the time to clean the kitchen afterwards, go ahead and make as big of a mess as you can!

We know home-baked goodies trump store-bought garbage any day. However, your home-baked goodies can also be chocked full of chemicals, just like that store-bought crap. So if you're willing to take that step in baking your own holiday treats, would you consider taking another step forward and using only wholesome, real, minimally-processed ingredients? Who wants to eat artificial flavors, red dye 40, yellow 5, transfat, GMOs, chemical sweeteners, and fake emulsifiers? Not me. Yuck.

If you're looking to make the healthiest treats in town (and by healthy, we mean highest quality, most wholesome ingredients; not the amount of fat it will pack on your frame! [because a treat is still a treat, not part of any diet regiment]), this might be a helpful list of 5 easy, and better for you substitutes ...

Whenever possible, choose to use unbleached flour. Chemically bleached flour may make your treats look prettier, but why ingest the unnecessary benzoyl peroxide or chlorine? If you are concerned with the texture of unbleached flour, sift before use.

Butter is better, unless you can't believe it's not butter. Never substitute with margarine. If you are concerned with cholesterol, you can replace equal amounts of butter with unrefined virgin coconut oil.

If your recipe calls for sugar, use sugar. Raw (cane) sugar and demerara sugar are my favorites. Never use sugar substitutes/ artificial sweeteners, even if they claim to be "all natural" (more about the term in a later post). This means, no Splenda, no Truvia, no aspartame, no corn syrup. If you concerned with the amount of sugar in your recipe, just use less. In my experience, you can always reduce the sugar (at least by a third!) without over altering the taste. You don't want your treats so sweet they hurt your teeth anyway.

Substitute oil with organic applesauce. This is the easiest way to trim the fat and calorie content from your baked goods. I use a 1:1 swap, and have always yielded great results in cakes, muffins, and quick breads.

Natural food dyes. Artificial food dyes are toxic. They are mostly derived from petroleum. You wouldn't consider eating gasoline or a plastic bag, so why would you want fake coloring in your food? Artificial food dyes have been known to be linked to cancer, ADHD, and adversely affect children's ability to learn. Food coloring is superficial. It adds absolutely no flavor or nutritional value to your baked goods. If you have to color your food, buy natural food dyes or make your own! Beets make a lovely red, saffron yellow, spinach green, and carrot orange.

So now, go forth and go bake!

Friday Night Music

We like to sing this super loud.

Recipe of the Week: Pan-Fried Chicken

i made pan-fried chicken.  hoo-ray for me!  it didn't suck.  hoo-ray for me!  i didn't destroy the kitchen.  hoo-ray for mindy!  so while mindy works on her dissertation i'll be filling in for recipe of the week.  i am typically resigned to the grill, as outside messes are easily cleanable with a hose.  but we bought a new wok and mindy let me break it in with a homemade version of one our hearty soul food favorites:  fried chicken and mashed potatoes.  hell yes, no healthy shit here.  this could stop a heart.  but you can eat it once in a while.  at least i used local ingredients.  i guess that makes it better.

Ingredients

*1lb of chicken breasts (legs or thighs will do too)

about 2 cups buttermilk

1.5 cups flour

1 cup panko ( or bread crumbs, or busted up corn flakes if you like popeye's style)

salt and pepper, taste
2 tbsp spices (be creative.  garlic powder.  jamaican jerk.  cajun spice.  italian spice.  perhaps a selective bunch of stuff from the spice cabinet)
oil (enough for pan frying, about 1/4-inch in the bottom of the pan)

Directions

Soak chicken pieces in buttermilk for at least 4-6 hours; preferably overnight.
Combine 1.5 cups of flour and and about 2 TBSP spices in a shallow plate.
Heat oil in a cast iron skillet until it begins to bubble.
Coat chicken in flour/panko/spice mixture.
Fry chicken for 10 minutes, turn and fry another 5 minutes, until chicken is crispy and golden brown.  Light brown is not good enough.  Wait for golden.

Serve with sides (we did mashed potatoes and simple blanched green beans).

green beans.  boiled for about 10 minutes then blanched to stop cooking.  still crispy and squeaky.

a shit load of mashed potatoes.  but i made a lot so i could make potato pancakes later in the week.

*i used skinless chicken.  i should have bought with skin.  it would have made the breading stick better and it would have been crispier.  and less healthy.  which can only make it better.  

kitchen duty

Zach is on kitchen duty for the month of December, which means he'll be contributing to the weekly recipes! He started with making dinner tonight -- pan-fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a side of green beans. Watch for the recipe tomorrow! Yums.

Dustin Harris Pots

We met ceramic artist, Dustin Harris, at Sherrie Gallerie while we were in Columbus over the weekend. We chatted a bit about his process and I found his work to be interesting. He's using printmaking as a texture for his surfaces, similar to the way I do when working in clay. I like his soda/wood hybrid fire surfaces. The crusty, one of a kind finish contrasts nicely with the repeated single image. 

This is the cup we picked out. We love it.  

Here are some of his other works. We hope you'll check him out on Etsy!

 

the robot mural made the news!

I'm a little late in sharing this ...

but here it is! The robot mural made the evening local news last Thursday! Woo-hoo! :) And here's the fabulous time-lapse video that Pete Brown made, in case you want to see it again ...