Cast Iron Pot Roast

Chuck roast in my vintage Wagner Ware pan, ready for the oven. 

We finally un-glutened and re-seasoned my favorite vintage cast iron pan. Some cookware can hold on to traces of gluten, which can transfer to the food you cook in it. If you're celiac like R, even that trace of gluten could make her sick. My stainless steel All-Clad Dutch oven and smaller saucepans are fine. But nonstick pans can have tiny scratches where gluten can linger even after repeated washings, and cast iron is porous.

So we replaced our Teflon skillet, and put the cast iron through the oven's self-clean cycle. This takes the pan down to bare metal, and burns off all the gluten. It also burned off the careful seasoning we've built up. This is an old pan, that we got second hand and already beautifully seasoned. But it was easier to heat seal and re-season it than I thought it would be. I'll do a post about that process soon.

This is by far my favorite pan, and it's great to have it back again and safe for R. It makes the best pot roast. Get the skillet piping hot and sear the salted and peppered beef (this one was a chuck roast) in a little oil (I used avocado oil). Take the beef out, add more oil if necessary, and layer thinly sliced potatoes on the bottom of the hot skillet. After the potatoes start to brown, add sliced onions, carrots, and a bay leaf or two. Put the roast back in the skillet, and almost cover it with a mixture of tomato paste (or ketchup), gluten free beef bouillon, and hot water. Add a bay leaf or two, and other herbs if you like. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, or a pot lid if you have one big enough.

This is what it looks like after 3-4 hours of slow roasting, at 250 or 300.

I brightened the flavors with some grape tomatoes and parsley, and served it on top of a green salad. We also had kiwi, strawberries and tangerine segments.

Cherry Almond Tart

I adapted a French frangipane (almond tart crust) recipe without the flour. I've had a bag of Townsend Farm organic dark sweet cherries in the freezer, and they were perfect for this.

The crust is almond meal, sugar, egg yolks and butter, with egg whites folded in. It leaked a bit out of my tart pan, so be sure to bake it on a cookie sheet. It would also work in a cake pan, but it might stick. Make sure to line any pan with parchment. 

Unbaked tart

Cherry Almond Tart

Gluten free

Serves 12 

Ingredients

2 cups almond meal
2 tbsp potato starch, corn starch or rice flour
8 TB (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
4 eggs, separated
¾ cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 ½ cups tart cherries, frozen or fresh
Turbinado (coarse) sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

Lemon zest (optional)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks and set aside. Combine the softened butter, egg yolks, sugar, potato/corn starch or rice flour, salt and almond meal in a mixing bowl or food processor, Blend or beat just until smooth. Fold the egg whites gently into the almond mixture.

Line the bottom of a tart pan or shallow cake pan with parchment. Spoon the crust mixture in, and smooth the top with an offset spatula or flat knife. Scatter cherries evenly across the top, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. If using a tart pan, place on a baking sheet because the crust could leak a little. Bake 30-40 minutes, until the middle is firm and bounces back to a touch, and the surface is evenly browned. Sprinkle with lemon zest while still warm. Let cool for at least 30 minutes, or it will be hard to remove from the pan. 

More Books

But first a shot of my birthday present, a fancy Ninja blender.

Purple cabbage in a smoothie is actually really good. If there are enough berries, you can't taste the cabbage. And finally I found something to do with the cranberries I somehow over-purchased at Thanksgiving. Costco sells giant bags of frozen spinach and kale, so I tossed some of it in on top of the bottom layer of frozen raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. Someday maybe a Vitamix, but for now we're having fun coming up with combinations. So much better than making smoothies in the food processor. Knocking down those suggested daily servings of fruits and vegetables while hardly even trying. Until R gets tired of smoothies, which I'm sure will happen soon.

I wanted to keep a record of some of R's favorite books right now. This one was from Santa this year. It's one of the most entertaining books I've ever read.

"The antidote to fuzzy thinking!"

It's such a funny, imaginative treatment of a dry subject. My favorite part of studying logic was always the examples of bad arguments.

These are far and away her favorite books right now.

Beautifully drawn cartoon of the Japanese folk tale, "The Boy Who Drew Cats." We are big fans of the animated version narrated by William Hurt. We checked out several versions of the tale from the library, to compare illustration styles.

Three books that happened to be on the dining room table. A friend gave me Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain in high school, and we're starting lessons from it. I wish I knew what happened to my original copy. I found this one at the thrift store.

This is a fantastic book to teach shape, color and composition. How powerful lines are, the emotions they evoke.

And finally, another book to immerse yourself in, by the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick. Wonderstruck.

From the website: "A boy named Ben longs for the father he has never known. A girl named Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room, and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.

Ben's story, set in 1977, is told entirely with words, while Rose's story, set fifty years earlier, is told entirely with pictures. The two stories weave back and forth before ultimately coming together. Rich, complex, affecting, and beautiful–with over 460 pages of original artwork–Wonderstruck is a stunning achievement from a uniquely gifted artist and visionary."

Gluten Free Pizza

Homemade gluten free pizza that we like as much as wheat-crust.

We have been so disappointed with gluten free pizza. Sabatasso from Costco is the only frozen version D and R like. Pizza crust mixes turn out a crust that's gritty from the rice flour, and has a strange taste. (Beany, musty . . . a problem with so many baked goods made from wheat-free flours.)

Back when we could eat wheat, I loved to make no-knead bread. I followed Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François' artisan bread in five minutes a day method. I was so happy to see that they have a gluten free book out. I bought the book, and I've been baking with their basic flour mix. Baguettes are still disappointing, but I think the errors are mine and I'll keep trying. In the meantime, I had some dough left in the fridge. This morning I tried it out as pizza crust.

There is a pizza recipe in the book that uses some added ingredients, but I was amazed how great a crust the regular bread recipe made. I was hoping that the fact this dough sits in the fridge for several days would help with the grittiness of undissolved rice flour. And that the crust would have the character and almost sourdough taste of slow-rising artisan bread. Both turned out to be true, to my delight.

Pull off peach-sized pieces from the dough container, and pat them into rough crust shapes. Extra rice flour and parchment on the board helped to handle the sticky dough. I let them rise on the parchment on the sheet pan for an hour.

My family likes pretty straight-ahead pizza. I'm the only one who will go for white pizzas or salad greens on top or even mushrooms and peppers. So I put a thin layer of tomato sauce (Trader Joe's marinara) on the dough and topped it with almost fully cooked cubes of chicken breast, grated and fresh mozzarella, chopped tomatoes*, and fresh basil. I brushed the edges of the crust with olive oil, and drizzled more oil over the toppings. The baking stone had been heating in a 500 degree oven for 45 minutes. I slid the pizzas on their parchment, directly onto the super-hot stone. They baked at 500 for about 12 minutes.

It was by far the best gluten free pizza we've had. No grittiness at all. The hot oven blistered and crisped the dough, and left the inside chewy like our favorite gluten crusts. I had been missing that chewy, artisan bread texture in our gluten free baking. There was no off taste, just the familiar, aged yeast flavor of really good bread.

More fresh basil on top after it came out of the oven. This was such an encouraging morning, after some baking failures. I spent so many years learning how to bake, even pastry school in France, only to start all over getting used to "flours" that behave nothing like wheat flour. I feel like I've knocked down one more obstacle in helping R appreciate the advantages of eating gluten free, without feeling deprived or wishing she weren't celiac. I'm going back to tackle baguettes and boules again. I can't recommend this book highly enough, if you can't have gluten and miss really good bread.

*The dreaded winter tomatoes. I started buying them this year because R loves them on her chopped salads, and anything that helps her eat more vegetables is fine with me.

The Power of Free Voluntary Reading

Bedhead, pj's, a comfortable couch and a good book.

Homeschooling frees up more time for reading. Hours spent immersed in a book that you chose yourself, that you're reading purely for pleasure. No book report or quiz at the end. Reading, and enjoying reading, is the end in itself. A reader picks up grammar and vocabulary without knowing it. A child who reads a lot learns to structure sentences, and take pleasure in the rhythm of language.

Recently I started reading Stephen Krashen and watching his presentations. This site links to great resources about the benefits of free voluntary reading, from Dr. Krashen and others. There are studies that prove that reading for pleasure physically changes your brain, and makes it grow (increased cortical thickness). Common sense observation shows that free reading improves general knowledge, vocabulary, independence, language competence, writing, and motivation to learn. The research backs up and confirms common sense conclusions.

We have books stashed everywhere, and cozy corners that are good for reading. 

A whole row of Great Illustrated Classics. R got involved in the process of collecting them, hunting at thrift stores and looking online for used ones. This September she finished reading all of the 50+ ones we own. 

At age 11, she can read lots of classics in their unabridged versions. But the feeling of accomplishment, of collecting these books, setting a goal to read all of them and then reaching that goal, was a great motivator. I hope our house has a culture of books, an environment where they are valued and appreciated, and always available. We try to protect free time, so R has the time to choose books and to read as much as she wants.

We like to make a special event of listening to audio books together. Dickens is the best, especially with a good, expressive reader.

We're starting a collection of the lives of the saints. She has several saints' anthologies too. 

A treasured Christmas gift from my Dad this year. The Access to Shakespeare editions with facing-page translations in contemporary English. 

"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end.You live several lives while reading." --William Styron.

This is a great shelf. Narnia, Lemony Snickett, Harry Potter, and Tolkien's books. My old copy of my favorite book as a kid, Harriet the Spy. 

I love this quote from Paul Auster: "Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author's words reverberating in your head." I think it's a mistake for schools to fill students' days with "reading skills" instruction, vocabulary quizzes, and assigned books with a dreaded report as the reward for finishing. The free time so necessary for voluntary reading is eaten up by schools assigning hours of homework a night, and by parents overscheduling extracurriculars and lessons. The books we pick up for "pure pleasure," with the anticipation of escaping and going somewhere else for awhile, are where we learn to be literate. "To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life."  --- W. Somerset Maugham.

Smoothie and Sunbutter Cookies

We start most mornings with a smoothie. Thank goodness for the giant bags of frozen berries at Costco. Usually it's berries, Greek yogurt, spinach or other greens, flax meal, and an egg from our free range chickens. R asks for some sweetener in hers, honey or sugar. The cookies are grain free with sunflower butter and coconut flour. They're sweetened with honey, and the eggs and the sunbutter are good for protein in the morning. I think I can do better so I won't post the recipe yet.

We're also loving this green juice from Trader Joe's. It tastes mild and citrusy. R won't drink a green glass, but I can mix it in a smoothie and she can't tell. D calls that "Jessica Seinfelding it." I try not to be sneaky like that, but I'm not above it. Lots of greens and vitamin C for chilly January days and cold and flu season.

New Year's Beans for Good Luck and Prosperity

Traditionally it's black eyed peas or lentils that bring good luck when you eat them early in the new year. I hope Mario Batali's Braised White Beans count too. After soaking the beans for two days, I sauteed the vegetables in olive oil but cooked everything long and slow in the slow cooker. I added a smoked turkey leg and a small square of salt pork I had left over in the freezer after homemade baked beans. I added a defrosted a jar of turkey broth from Thanksgiving, scented with citrus and poultry herbs. These beans are so luxurious and melty.

I also roasted a spaghetti squash with some Irish butter and sea salt. We're learning that gluten free cooking is only tricky when it comes to baking. So far it's been a great way to refocus on produce, lean proteins, nuts and legumes, without reaching for easy carbs. D and R love their baked goods though, so I'm learning to work with "flours" that behave nothing like wheat.

Serving greens is traditional to encourage prosperity in the new year. So we also had a chopped kale and mixed greens salad with dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year!

Birthday Sunrise

As a child, I didn't like having my birthday and Christmas so close together. Once January 5 was over, it was such a long time to wait until all the excitement  rolled around again. But this year I'm glad to start two new years in one week.

2014 was not an easy year. Three hospitalizations and long recoveries, the final one causing us to miss our trip to New Mexico. For the first time in my life, I wasn't sitting around my parents' cozy stone fireplace with my brothers and their families for Christmas. That was hard for all of us. And yet it was a good year in many ways. I found out how much kindness and love there is among my family and friends. The deep well of prayer and generosity that surrounds our little family of three. I learned to be grateful for small things, to wake up and slow down and notice fleeting moments. I woke up to this birthday sunrise this morning.

The first pic I took with my camera, pulling on snowboots and D's heavy parka and scrambling to keep Charlie inside because it was early and he would bark and wake the neighbors. The grainy iPad shot above is what I saw from our bedroom window as soon as I opened my eyes. I spent a lot of time watching this tree from my bed this year. From green summer, to fall leaves turning and dropping their giant beanpods all over the grass. Then my favorite season, when snow falls softly on the black branches and blurs the edges of the pergola.

It made me laugh when the maudlin O. Henry story The Last Leaf popped into my head, where the girl watches the tree from her sickbed and predicts she will be dead when the last leaf falls. This is not a Last Leaf situation. It was a crisis that's over now. There shouldn't be any long term effects once I recover and get my stamina back. (It was gynecological, that led to pulmonary embolism---multiple blood clots on both lungs---that in turn led to profound anemia and more complications. All fixable with surgery, which is over now. No cancer or permanent damage to my heart and lungs, nothing chronic.) I was fortunate, and I won't forget that. I had been taking my good health for granted for many years.

We met another curve ball in October, when R was diagnosed with celiac disease. Again, we have been so spoiled with her good health. She's almost never at the doctor. But she had been kind of languishing since early summer. Strange symptoms, just not her rosy-cheeked, energetic and thriving self. I took her in a few times and all her bloodwork came back normal. Then they thought to test for celiac. We were surprised when she was diagnosed, but grateful to have an explanation.

I'd like to start the blog back up with a focus on gluten free recipes, and what we're learning about living with celiac. Overall it's been a good thing, an answer to our questions and a concrete way to get R back on the road back to feeling good. The improvement was dramatic once we cut out gluten. It's been interesting to learn a new way to cook. We're still homeschooling, and loving it. It's a different season of our lives, with an 11 year old instead of a little girl. I think there is a blog for that.

For today, it's a birthday I'm grateful to be celebrating, with my patient family who has put way too many things on the back burner for too long. This morning the sky exploded in color behind the tree that kept me company through those long, restless months. You don't have to look much farther for a sign that 2015 will be a different year. God is good, and we are happy.