Foodie Formulas

 I like rules that always work.  I am a person who needs consistency. A recipe is like a formula; that is part of its appeal to me. However, since recipes were first created, the foodie world has grown and expanded in leaps and bounds. Absolutely anything can be customized, substituted, tailored and altered to the palate, values, and nutritional needs of any person. Recipes are a dime a dozen. So here is my challenge: To have one formula, made up of variables, which is able to create a consistent product. Take chocolate chip cookies for example: Pick your flour, sweetener, binder, leavener, and moisturizer. Use the formula to calculate your proportions and thus your measurements and viola, cookies for anyone and everyone.

 Life is not consistent. You will not always have exactly what you need to be able to make what you are trying to create. But if the end product is ALWAYS equal to the sum of its parts, then the parts can be substituted interchangeably. So, this is not your traditional foodie blog. There will be tons of recipes, tons of trial and error, but the end result is not meant to be strictly recipes. The end result I’m searching for is a formula.

Leaveners, moisteners, binders etc are not in categories of their own. Your leavener could be a wet OR a dry ingredient. If you choose to switch which side of the spectrum it falls into by which ingredient you are using toward your end result, you have to compensate to balance the recipe. For instance, if you choose to substitute honey or agave nectar for white sugar, you suddenly have a greater ratio of wet ingredients to dry, and your product will become much more dense. Or, if you want to substitute stevia/erithritol/xanthan gum/(or heaven forbid) aspartame, all products which are several hundred times sweeter than sugar, all of a sudden you have to compensate for having much less dry ingredients. And let us not forget that sugar adds a serious moisture kick to a product, so you may have to add some type of fat. Enough rambling for this post.

Sunshine Muffins

(vegan)

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/3 cup oat bran

1/3 cup sugar (organic)

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½  tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp cinnamon

¾ cup carrot juice

½ cup apple sauce (unsweetened)

2 TBL maple syrup

2 TBL virgin coconut oil

1 cup chopped peach

2 TBL agave or maple syrup

½ cup walnuts

½ cup rolled oats

1.       Chop or grind walnuts. Combine with agave or maple syrup and oats until crumbly. This is your topping.

2.       Whisk together dry ingredients

3.       Pulse wet ingredients in blender to ensure they are well combined.

4.       Combine wet and dry ingredients; gently fold in peaches. DO NOT OVERMIX.

5.       Portion into muffin tin, or loaf pan. Sprinkle with topping.

6.       Bake at 375 until light and fluffy (12-15 minutes).

I really liked these, next time though I would add a tsp or two of erithritol, and probably another 1/3 cup of carrot juice for sweetening and moisture.

Spinach-Mushroom Stroganof

8 ounces fettuccini or spaghetti pasta

½ cup chopped onion

1-1/2 cups sliced mushrooms

Large handful of fresh spinach =)

2 TBL minced garlic

I cup beef stock

2 TBL Dijon mustard

1 TBL soy sauce (or Worscheshire)

Splash of red wine* optional

2 TBL flour by itself OR

1 TBL corn starch mixed with:

 ½ cup cold (plain) soy milk

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp cumin

1.       Cook pasta according to package directions

2.       Saute onion and mushrooms until caramelized. Add spinach and let wilt. Deglaze with wine.

3.       Add flour and stir constantly for about a minute. Don’t let it scorch!

(Skip this step if you are using corn starch.)

4.       Add garlic, stock mustard, and soy sauce. Bring to a simmer. Add soy milk (and thus the corn starch) and let thicken. Add more milk if too thick. Season to taste. Serve over noodles.