Ancient Einkorn WheatTolerated By Many With Gluten IntoleranceEinkorn Vegan Banana Bread Recipe

Many people with gluten sensitivities tolerate einkorn wheat.
Vegan einkorn banana bread with chocolate chips and walnuts.

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Einkorn Wheat
My husband is sensitive to gluten. The minute he eats a piece of bread, he sneezes or gets stuffy. Worst of all (for me), he snores at night. So now he mostly avoids wheat.

A few months ago Doug bought some Einkorn wheat flour and Einkorn whole wheat pasta to try. It's an ancient form of wheat that was cultivated thousands of years ago. Modern wheat has been hybridized for various reasons (improve yield, increase gluten content, etc.) and some think that this has lead to the increase in wheat sensitivity. Although people with celiac should not consume any form of wheat or grain that contains gluten, some gluten sensitive people have reported little or no reaction to this type of wheat. Doug has had no reaction to items baked with All-Purpose Einkorn flour or eating Einkorn whole wheat pasta (which is very yummy.) Many claim it's even more digestible than spelt.

Einkorn wheat contains different
gluten than modern wheat

Not all Gluten is Created Equal
Modern wheat contains the A and D Genome. Einkorn does not contain the D Genome which is what is used to detect the presence of gluten in an Elisa test. Wheat gluten studies show Einkorn may be non-toxic to some people who suffer from gluten intolerance.

Oldest and Simplest Form of Wheat
Einkorn is diploid, containing 2 sets of chromosomes. Emmer wheat has four sets, and spelt and modern wheat has 6 sets (hybridizing passes the chromosomes from the different plants to the hybridized plant). With only 2 sets of chromosomes, Einkorn is the oldest and simplest form of wheat there is which may explain its naturally low gluten content.

Other Benefits
Einkorn wheat has twice the vitamin A (in retinol equivalents), three to four times more beta-carotene, three to four times more lutein, and four to five times more riboflavin than modern wheat.

You can also get Einkorn whole wheat pasta.

It's Not a 1:1 Substitute
Modern wheat absorbs more water than Einkorn so when you are baking with Einkorn, you can not just substitute it 1:1 in your normal recipes. Einkorn has some recipes that you can practice with while you are getting the hang of using this flour. Here's my favorite vegan banana bread recipe from my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen, that has been modified for Einkorn flour. 

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Einkorn Banana Bread with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips 
Vegan, Dairy Free, Less Gluten
[makes 12 servings]

Requires an 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pan or three 5 3/4" x 3" mini-loaf pans.
Best with an electric hand mixer.

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil plus some for greasing pan
2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
4 tablespoons room temperature water
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed bananas (2 bananas)
2 cups all-purpose organic einkorn flour
2 packets stevia
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped English walnuts
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease the pans.

In a small cup, make flax eggs by beating the ground flaxseeds with water. Beat well and set aside. 

In a large bowl, add oil, sugar, applesauce, and vanilla and beat with an electric hand mixer until creamy. Add mashed bananas and flax eggs and beat again until well combined.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, stevia, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and beat with electric hand mixer until well combined. 

Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared loaf pan or three mini pans.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the loaf, about 40 to 50 minutes for the large loaf pan or 25 to 35 minutes for mini loaf pans.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. 

Remove the loaf from the pan and place upright on a cooling rack for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve. 

Nutrition
Per serving: 210 calories, 10 grams total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 g protein, 28 g carbohydrates, and 186 mg sodium.

How To Cut A Tomato When You Only Need A Slice Or Two

Need a big juicy tomato slice for your sandwich? Try this!

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How to Cut a Tomato
This may seem ridiculously simple, but it's a little trick I use when I need a nice juicy slice or two of tomato for a sandwich or a veggie burger. This method does a few things:

* it gives you a big, center slice of tomato without messing with the blossom end or stem which doesn't make a good sandwich slice anyway

* it lets you store the rest of the tomato without the cut end touching the plastic wrap

* the left over tomato stays fresh in the refrigerator longer

Here we go!

Pick a big, juicy tomato.This bad boy came out of my garden - it's a pink Brandywine.

Slice to the left of the middle depending on how big a slice you want to end up with

Cut a slice or two

Place the remaining tomato top over the bottom.
It should fig snug.

Place in a baggy.
Don't worry, the open tomato won't touch the plastic.

Place the slice of tomato in your sandwich or on a burger.
Using a round, whole grain bun is perfect.
This is a hummus, cucumber, avocado and tomato sandwich.

Enjoy!

Instant Pot Butternut Squash SoupOnly 117 Calories Per Serving

This simple butternut squash soup is a
great first course for your holiday dinner.

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For healthy, vegan holiday recipes, check out
my ebook, Health Begins in the Kitchen.

Quick and Easy Soup in the Instant Pot
With several dozen butternut squash from my harvest, I've been trying to create a really simple, delicious, and healthy recipe so that I can enjoy them over the next few months. This recipe, using my Instant Pot Pressure Cooker, makes a steamy, brothy soup that makes a wonderful beginning to any meal. I will be hauling a few of my squash to my daughter's house next week so that we can serve this soup on Thanksgiving day.

Butternut squash can sometimes be tough to cut and a bit intimidating, so check out my post, An Easy Way to Cut a Butternut Squash Without a Machete.

If you don't have an Instant Pot, follow the Stove Top recipe below.


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Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
Vegan, Dairy and Gluten Free
[makes 6 servings]

Requirements
Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Immersion Blender

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 (2-pound) butternut squash, peeled, cleaned and diced
4 cups vegetable broth*
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
Pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped, divided
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste

* broth can be replaced by 4 cups water and a large Rapunzel vegan bouillon cube

Directions (Using an Instant Pot)
Heat the oil in the Instant Pot on the SAUTE function. Add the onions and celery and cook for three minutes, stirring frequently. Turn off the Instant Pot.

Add the diced butternut squash, broth, and salt and hit the MANUAL button on the Instant Pot and set for 6 minutes under high pressure. Make sure the quick release switch in the closed position. When done, hit the OFF button and let the pressure release naturally.

When complete, open the cover and tilt so that the steam comes out the back and away from your face. 

Add the applesauce, cayenne pepper, and 3/4 teaspoon of thyme and, using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. 

Stir in the lemon juice and adjust salt and cayenne to taste. It should still be warm enough but if not, use the SAUTE function and heat for several minutes. 

Pour into large cups or small soup bowls, top with the remaining fresh thyme and serve. 

Directions (On the Stove Top)
Heat the oil in a soup pot on medium heat. Add the onions and celery and cook for several minutes, stirring frequently. 

Add the diced butternut squash, broth, and salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the squash is soft, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat. Add the applesauce, cayenne pepper, and 3/4 teaspoon of thyme and, using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. 

Stir in the lemon juice and adjust salt and cayenne to taste.

Pour into large cups or small soup bowls, top with the remaining fresh thyme and serve.  

Nutrition
Per serving: 117 calories, 3 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 58 mg omega-3 and 263 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 2 g protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 4 g dietary fiber, and 551 mg sodium.

How To Preserve Your WineHow Much Wine Is Healthy?

How much wine should we drink?

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Is Wine Healthy?
Over the years we've seen numerous headlines about drinking wine, and other forms of alcohol, for our health. If you're from an Italian family with grandparents who lived into their 80's or 90's, you'd say, "duh", but there's a lot more to this story than that. 

Benefits and Risks for the Heart
The benefits of drinking wine and other forms of alcohol are mostly for the heart. Studies have shown that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol:
* can reduce blood clots
* increases your good cholesterol, or HDL
* helps reduce your bad cholesterol, or LDL, which helps prevent damage to your arteries

Despite these benefits, the American Heart Association and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute do not recommend that you start drinking just for health reasons. But if you already drink, you should do so in moderation.

They define drinking "moderate" amounts of alcohol as:
* one drink a day for women of all ages
* one drink a day for men over 65
* up to two drinks a day for men age 65 and over

One drink is 5 ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, or 12 ounces of beer.

Drinking more than this can have a negative impact. It can:
* increase your triglycerides,
* raise your blood pressure
* lead to liver damage

What about Cancer?
Whereas alcohol has some heart health benefits, there is no evidence that it is helpful in the prevention of cancer. In fact, the more alcohol a person drinks, the higher that person's risk of getting cancer is. The American Cancer Society also advises people to limit their alcohol consumption to one to two drinks a day, as described above.

The ACS also warns:
* oral, esophageal, laryngeal, and pharyngeal cancers are more common in alcohol users than in non-alcohol users, especially if they also smoke.
* alcohol is a major cause of liver cancer
* women who have 2 to 5 drinks a day have a higher risk of breast cancer
* heavy alcohol users have a higher risk of colon and rectal cancer.

A Trick to Preserve Wine and Limit Consumption
When you open a bottle of wine, several things happen, besides overwhelming feelings of joy and anticipation. You drink a glass, your judgement goes to hell, and the wine starts to oxidize. So here's what Doug and I started doing.

#1 - Buy a half bottle of wine with a screw top. Drink it and save the bottle.

We found a nice half bottle Sauvignon Blanc with a screw top.

#2 - The next time you want open a normal size bottle of wine, pour half of it in the empty half bottle. Pour it up to the top and screw the top back on. This will prevent oxidation so the wine will keep. It will also discourage you from drinking the rest of the bottle after your judgement weakens so you may have to hide it :-)

We opened a bottle of our Turtle Vines Pinot Noir

Poured half into our empty 1/2-bottle

After filling completely, leaving no air space,
screwed it shut

Then we drank the rest of the opened bottle

A bottle of wine is 750 ml or 25 ounces. So a half bottle provides one 5-ounce pour and one 7.5-ounce pour which meets the guidelines for a woman and a man. I'm supposed to drink the small one but as you can see from the above picture, we didn't quite pour it that way. The 2012 Pinot is my favorite vintage, so I was weak! But usually, I give Doug the bigger pour.

Cheers!

Make Your Own Italian Eggplant Caponata Still Looking For Progresso Caponata?

Eggplant Caponata makes a great appetizer.

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Childhood Memories
Pretty much every holiday dinner in my family started with an antipasto. Occasionally, part of the antipasto was eggplant caponata. Even though my family made most things from scratch, the eggplant caponata was made by Progresso. 

Most prepared foods that come in cans is terrible. But I will tell you, those tiny little cans of Progresso Eggplant Caponata were wonderful, but unfortunately they are no longer available.

I hadn't eaten caponata for years. But last year, my girlfriend Margarite made a huge jar  for me. It immediately brought back childhood memories of this tasty dish. I devoured the entire jar and immediately planted eggplant in my garden.

My sister-in-law Dianne has fond memories of her aunt Vera's caponata and recently shared that recipe with me. There are things I like from Margarite's recipe and things I like from aunt Vera's. So I made a trial batch using the best of both recipes and it came out great!

Eggplant from my garden

Too Much Oil
The only unhealthy thing about caponata is the copious amounts of olive oil used in most recipes. Aunt Vera's recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups and Margarite's uses 1 cup. My brother Peter gave me a tip about microwaving the eggplant before frying that significantly reduces the amount of oil needed. Although I rarely use a microwave for anything other than heating up leftovers, I think this trick works very well and it allows me to reduce the amount of oil to less than 1/2 a cup. That still sounds like a lot but this recipe fills a 1 liter jar, lasts for a very long time in the refrigerator, and is used sparingly on crackers or baguette slices.

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Eggplant Caponata Appetizer
Vegan, Dairy and Gluten Free
[Fills a 1 liter jar]

Ingredients
2 large or 3 medium eggplants
7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 cups diced onion
4 stalks celery, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced (~1/2 cup)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped pimento stuffed green olives
1/2 cup drained capers 
1 tablespoon pine nuts or walnuts, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons sugar
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce 
1/4 cup water or as needed
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Directions
Peel the eggplants, leaving on some of the peel. Cut into 1-inch cubes and place, in a single layer, on a microwavable plate covered with two layers of paper towels (you will have to do this in two batches.) Cover with a single layer of paper towels and cook in the microwave on high for 7 minutes. 

Microwave for 7 minutes

Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large enamel coated, non-stick skillet. Sauté the eggplant on moderate heat, turning occasionally, until tender and browned on all sides. Remove the eggplant from the skillet and set aside.

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet. Add the onions, celery, and bell pepper and cook on moderate heat until tender and golden brown, about 15 minutes. 

Add garlic, olives, capers, nuts, salt, pepper and sugar and cook, stirring, for several minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce and vinegar.

Stir in the cooked eggplant and cook, covered, until tender. Add a 1/4 cup or more of water if needed.

When the eggplant is tender, remove the cover and cook a few minutes until the water is completely evaporated. Stir in 1 more tablespoon of olive oil, and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and let the caponata sit in the pan for several hours to allow the flavors to develop.

Place in a 1-liter, air-tight jar and refrigerate until needed. 

Caponata will last for weeks in the refrigerator.

Serve at room temperature on gluten-free crackers or baguette slices. 

How To Make Your Own Cough Syrup Avoid Dangerous Over-The-Counter Products

Over-the-counter cold remedies can be dangerous.
So try making your own!

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What's In Your Cough Syrup?
You can tell that it's cold and flu season by the melodious sound of hacking coughs in the supermarket, airplanes, schools, and in the office. A cough can disrupt your sleep and leave you exhausted. 

Most people think that over-the-counter medications are pretty safe and when faced with a never-ending cough, are desperate to try anything. But like many pharmaceutical drugs, the side effects can be more dangerous than the symptoms you are trying to suppress. Especially when you take too much. And when you can't stop coughing, sometimes it's easy to take a bigger slug that what is prescribed.

Many cough syrups contain DMX, or Dextromethorphan. Side effects of taking too much DMX can include:
* Blurred vision
* Confusion
* Drowsiness or dizziness
* nausea or severe vomiting
* difficulty in urination
* shakiness and unsteady walking
* slowed breathing
* unusual excitement, nervousness, restlessness, or severe irritability

In addition, some children do not have the enzyme to metabolize this drug so this becomes an extremely dangerous remedy. Many teens use and abuse cough medicine containing DMX to get high which can be fatal. If you have young children in the house, it's a good idea not to have these types of medicines in the house.

OTC cough medicines may also contain other ingredients such as acetaminophen. Around 80,000 people a year end up in an emergency room for acetaminophen toxicity which can lead to severe liver damage.

Make Your Own
Once again, mother nature comes to the rescue. With a few simple ingredients, you can make your own cough syrup with real health benefits and no dangerous side effects. This syrup has these healthful ingredients:

Onions
Onions are in the allium family. For centuries, they have been used as a medicine. Egyptian physicians recommended the onion for literally thousands of separate ailments.  Rich in the antioxidant quercetin (and other flavonoids), they stimulate the immune system, protect against oxidative stress, and act as a natural decongestant. 

Garlic
Also in the allium family, garlic has been used throughout ancient history for its medicinal properties. Rich in the sulfur compound allicin, it bolsters the immune system and is a potent antibiotic. It has antibacterial, anti fungal, and antiviral properties as well.

My garlic harvest.

Ginger
Although ginger is most notably used for nausea, it is a natural decongestant and antihistamine. It can warms the upper respiratory tract and is useful in treating symptoms of colds and flu.

Honey
Although many vegans avoid the use of honey in daily cuisine, it remains an important medicine due to its strong antimicrobial properties and wound healing abilities. These properties have been documented in the oldest medical literature. With respect to cough suppression, some believe it is as effective as dextromethorphan. It is also used to treat infections of the upper respiratory tract. 

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Here's a simple recipe for the relief of chess congestion and coughing. I make this in very small batches since it is best when fresh. Store in the refrigerator and make a new batch ever two or three days.Take as much as you need to control your cough. No one has ever OD'd on onions and garlic but I wouldn't advise going on a first date. 

Homemade Cough Syrup
[makes ~ 3 to 4 tablespoons]

Allow 8 to 24 hours for extraction. You can use an Instant Pot, yogurt maker, or just a warm spot in your kitchen.

Ingredients
1 organic onion
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated organic garlic
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated organic ginger
1/4 cup raw honey

Directions
Peel the onion and cut in half vertically. Thinly slice the onion in half moons and place in a glass pint jar. 

Combine the garlic and ginger with the honey and pour over the onions. Mix well and push down so the honey is above the onion mixture.

Place the jar in your Instant Pot and hit the YOGURT setting. Cover with a regular lid and let sit until juice forms. If you don't have an Instant pot or yogurt maker, just cover the jar and place it in a warm spot in your kitchen. Either method will take 8 to 12 hours. If it doesn't get juicy enough, let it sit longer. 

Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the mixture into a small jar. Cover and refrigerate until needed. It tastes better than you'd think, even with the garlic and onions! 

I hope this recipe brings you some relief.

P.S. 
I hated to waste the onion mixture, so I rinsed off the honey (not necessary) and tossed it in my Instant Pot with some beans. Pretty yummy.

An Easy Way To Cut A Butternut Squash Without A Machete

Cutting a butternut squash can be really difficult.
Here's a quick tip.

Love to Eat Them but Hate to Cut Them?
I love butternut squash. But they can be really hard to cut. The outer skin can be so tough you feel like you need a machete to cut through it. I use to wait until Doug was around to do it so I didn't risk cutting my hand off, but now I use this little trick that makes it super easy. Check it out.

The key is to peel them first! Take a vegetable peeler and peel the entire squash.

Once it's completely peeled, lay the squash on its side on a cutting board and just slice off the top and the bottom. A good knife will go through it like butter. 

Now turn the squash up on its end and carefully cut straight down to the bottom.

Clean out the seeds and then slice or dice depending on the recipe you are making.

Wasn't that simple?

I'll be posting a delicious butternut squash recipe in later this week so stay tuned!