How a Sourdough Cashew Bread & I Met

I've been salivating over The Urban Poser's sourdough cashew bread for a while, but I haven't had time to make it.  That is until now.  And all I can wonder is, "why haven't I done this long before?"  

Yesterday I processed the raw, organic cashews with filtered water.  Then, added the probiotic (mine was a 34 billion cell), which I thoroughly mixed in the cashews.  I put it in my yogurt maker to incubate for 24 hours.  

A word on the probiotic.  There is a mistake in the original recipe calling for a 20-30 billion strain, because the number is not referring to strains; rather, it's referring to cells.  In my probiotic capsules, each capsule contains 34 billion cells, while the probiotic itself has seven (7) strains of probiotics.  What you'll want is to find a probiotic carrying 20-30 billion cells.  I found mine at the co-op in town.  

The one recipe calls for a 7 3/4 x 3 3/4 pan, which isn't very large.  Most loaf pans are more like 9x5.  If you want to make this recipe in your standard one, then you'll need to double the recipe.  What you see in my picture is actually two mini loaf pans.

I love the fresh out of the oven taste of this bread.  I have visions of baking it again in the small loaf pan, then slicing it thin and laying them flat on a sheet pan to toast up for French Onion Soup or crostini.  

PS: I didn't do the lovely egg wash, which makes the end result nice and golden and lovely.  

Crockpot Harissa Meat Chili (Savoring: The Practices of Eating)

I hope you've been following along with my practices of Eating series.  It's a slow but steady wins the race sort of series, which hopefully will be done by the end of May.  Yet, seeing that my word of the year is Peace, and combine that with life being too short to miss, the word 'savor' keeps spilling out.  

Because, Caprice is still not anywhere close to sleeping through the night.  Temper tantrums and emotional meltdowns are still happening everyday in our home.  The ability to savor and not scarf is a hard thing when life is seemingly tumultuous, and the only way you're going to eat is by cramming food into your mouth, while rushing out the door.  

But, I've been caught off guard when people ask, "So, has she (referencing Caprice) been easier, or your harder baby?," as they give me that empathic nod.  I think, "well, hard because she's not sleeping--yes!  Hard, because she only likes to be held by Ben or myself--yes!"  Still, I answer, "no--she's not hard, the transition of adding three has been the hardest, but I find myself savoring her."

It's easy to savor, when you know it's your last.

We are pretty certain that we are not having anymore babies.  With that knowing, my soul clings to the gift more readily and easily.  I savor it.

And so with eating with a savoring, longing heart...

  • we pause to thank the Creator before we eat, in order to teach our bellies a patient longing for what is to come.
  • we regularly eat dinner, trying our best to take in not only the flavors, but each others day.  
  • we savor conversation, time together
  • sometimes, we eat out at my favorite cafe, and I dissect the food, in order to taste each ingredient thoughtfully placed
  • I want to savor the food I eat, my family, my friends as though it's all a gift I'm given at this very moment.

As I'm holding Caprice, I look at her and know she won't be six years old, still nursing and sleeping in our bed.  

Rather, I look at this meal melded in a crockpot.  A little work done beforehand, by cutting out cubes of meat from the chuck steak.  Grinding black pepper, sprinkling salt, minced garlic and onion flakes on top.  Having Tay right there helping me pour the diced tomatoes on top, and telling her to smell in the harissa.  Oh the harissa.  There are varying forms of it with chilis, cumin, coriander, caraway, garlic, paprika and cinnamon.  

Either way, this meal, all front end work allowed me to relish time with my girls, knowing the meat was stewing for us to enjoy come dinner time.  Serving up bowls with meaty chili, soft sweet potatoes and slightly cooked kale to find a bit of heat from the chilis and woody, sweet finish of the cinnamon caused us to truly savor only the way meat cooked all day can.  

Crockpot Harissa Meat Chili (printable recipe)

This little number was super easy, and did I mention I'm slightly obsessed with harissa? If you don't have roasted sweet potatoes on hand (what, you mean that's not normal?), you can either roast them whole at 400 degrees for an hour.  Or, simply peel some sweet potatoes and add cut them up and add them to the pot to cook alongside the beef.  


Ingredients:

3-4 lbs cubed chuck steak, or chuck roast

1 1/2 Tb harissa powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tsp garlic, I used dehydrated garlic granules

1 Tb onion flakes

1-28 ounce can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup water

Washed & cut up kale, make it easy and buy pre-washed, pre-cut Organic kale from TJ's

Sweet potatoes, roasted, skin off and cut into cubes.

Directions:

This is incredibly easy.  Put the meat in the crockpot.  Then, add all the seasonings.  

Next dump in the diced tomatoes and water.  Stir it around.  Put the lid on, I cooked mine

on high for six hours, because the low cook for eight hours would take too long.  

Once it was cooked, I already had pre-cut and pre-washed kale from Trader Joe's, which I

added a couple handfuls to the crockpot.  I stirred it around, in order to soften and cook it

a bit with the heat of the chili.  Then, I had two roasted sweet potatoes, which I simply

cut up and added to the pot.  

Dinner was served and it tasted magnificent!

Bread & Wine Review & Mango Chutney & Turkey Burgers (Practices of Eating)

My friend Jessica told me about the release of this book titled, Bread & Wine by an author who's name rung a bell from way back when.  Her name was Shauna Niequist.  I remembered hearing about her from one of Rob Bell's sermons way back in 2007.  So I did what any person would do..."a google search."  I then checked out her second book Bittersweet from the library, and felt the salve to this weary postpartum mama soul.  

I later emailed Shauna to see if I could get an advanced reader's copy of the book.  It began my "be bold and ask for what you want" stage of life.  I would receive an email confirming my name on the advanced reader's copy list.  It came.  

What I found from Bread & Wine, and Shauna.

I found a kindred spirit who happens to live outside of Chicago, wife to a musician and a mama to two boys, an extroverted foodie gatherer of the table.  I found a lady I'm certain is gifted with the pen and writes out of her heart on these pages of Bread & Wine.  I found a woman who isn't perfect, but an encourager at heart to keep at it, which I mean, keep at the cooking, the eating, the gathering, the joining of this life together.  

What I can tell you is if you come to Redeeming the Table reading my humble words, then Bread & Wine will fit right at home in your heart.  It's as if Shauna and I had a couple coffee & dessert chats, and she wrote my heart; but, did a better job than I could have done.  At every turn I found myself saying aloud, "I've done that," or "I'm the same way."  

Connecting through the Preparing of Food

There was one recipe, Mar-a-Lago Turkey Burgers, which intrigued me.  It wasn't just the burgers, but the story she told about making them.  It was summer and she couldn't get into a writing groove, wasn't sleeping and not reading nearly as much.  What she did would be my response as well...cook in the kitchen.  

There is a monotony in chopping, slicing and dicing.  

But, last Thursday, when I probably should have been focusing on cleaning the house with our 7:00 class arriving, and it was 4:30 (I also needed to have all three girls asleep by then), I made these turkey burgers.  I began by making my own homemade mango chutney, then proceeded to pare the Granny Smith apples and chop them up.  Next was the green onions and celery.  As I stood there with attention on the blade cutting through the celery stalks, I listened to my girls play and I prayed.  

There is a mindfulness, which comes from routinized mise en place cutting.  It brings out the real, tangible, aesthetically invigorating smells & tastes of life.  Could it be Mary the Mother of God stood in the kitchen preparing a meal when the Angel Gabriel came before her?  And could it be that God meets us in these ordinary places as He speaks life sacred into us?

I find my home in the kitchen.  

Sometimes it's filled with a weary rush, racing the clock to get the meal done.  But, when the baby is sleeping, and the older two are happily playing together, I can take my board, chef knife and food and feel like I'm contributing something real to the abyss.  It's in the remedial, where the abyss of anxiety lessens, and I see the gift of grace.  God whispering,

"Smell the dry sour of the Granny Smith apple.  Feel the water within the cut of the celery.  Listen to the chopped food dancing on the sizzling coconut oil."  

Later that night, I served up turkey burgers that didn't taste like turkey burgers.  I didn't follow the recipe's directions of letting them chill, but it didn't cut into the taste.  We didn't have a side of vegetables, because I didn't have time.  All we ate was turkey burgers topped with Mango Chutney Mayo, and I didn't feel one ounce of guilt about it.  

Homemade Mango Chutney (printable recipe)

Okay, so I had to make my own mango chutney, because that's just who I am.  I knew I had frozen cubed mango in my freezer from Trader Joe's.  I picked up some red bell peppers and figured everything else was at home.  What I like about making my own is I get to decide what sugars I want in it and how spicy.  I used real maple syrup to sweeten.  

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed mango, frozen or fresh

1 cup white vinegar

1 onion, diced

2 Tb finely minced fresh ginger

1 diced red bell pepper

1 1/2 Tb curry powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup pure maple syrup  

1/2 tsp red pepper chili flakes

1/4 cup dried cherries, or golden raisins

Directions:

In a medium pot over medium heat, combine mango, vinegar, onions, ginger, red peppers, curry powder, salt, and maple syrup.  Stir to combine.  Allow the mixture to bubble, while stirring occasionally.  You will want the mangoes to break down a bit, but not all of them.  Turn the heat down to low, or a simmer.  

Keep it on low, checking in on it with stirring.  Add the dried cherries and chili flakes.  It probably takes about 20 minutes to cook it on the stove, but could take 30 minutes.  Really though, it's very forgiving and it's all about giving it time to soak up the spices and break down the mangoes.  What you don't want is to turn the heat on too high and cause it to burn.  Baby it to a degree and let come together.  

If you want more heat, then add more chili flakes.  Use it with the turkey burgers, on top roasted chicken, or scrambled eggs.  

Turkey Burgers (printable recipe)

Shauna recommends having at least three or four hours to prep these burgers, as it takes two hours to sit in the fridge before grilling.  However, I found that I didn't refrigerate mine and they turned out well.  Granted, they weren't as formed, but dinner needed to be made and served.  That said, take your time and relax in the making of these burgers.  

Ingredients:

1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup celery, finely chopped

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced

Coconut oil or Olive oil

4 pounds ground turkey breast

1 Tb salt

1 Tb black pepper

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped

1/4 cup mango chutney

Special Sauce:

1/2 cup mango chutney

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup ketchup

(I left out) 2 dashes Tabasco

Directions:

Saute the green onions, celery, and apples in oil over medium-low heat until tender.  Allow it to cool (or do what I did and not follow the directions).

While the mixture is cooling, make the special sauce.  Mix chutney, mayonnaise, ketchup, and Tabasco (if you like).  Adjust for heat and then refrigerate until serving time.

Place the ground turkey in a large mixing bowl.  Add sauteed items and the remaining ingredients.  Shape into 12 burgers (what I found was the recipe made much more than 12 burgers, so I just made some now and then formed them into patties and made the rest later).  Refrigerate for two hours (or just get a hot well oiled cast iron pan and make it right then, because you decide to make them in dinner's eleventh hour).

Place on a preheated, lightly oiled grill set to medium-high heat.  Grill each side for 7 minutes until meat is thoroughly cooked.  Ensure there is no pink left.  I served these by themselves with the special sauce on top.  

Disclaimer: I wasn't paid to promote Shauna Niequist's Bread & Wine.  These are my opinions and I think you & your table would be more full in the reading of this book.  So get on it and order it.  It was made available last week on Amazon.