Buckwheat Blueberry Bread

Um.  Hi.

Back when I introduced myself, I believe I mentioned being a teacher. Which may explain my complete lack of posts since before September 1. Still, wow, that's embarrassing. I had such grand plans! But I am still trying to keep to the philosophy, if not the posting, so there's hope. And I have a big backlog of photos of projects that didn't get posted back in the summer. Keep peeking in here from time to time, and I'll try to keep putting something up from time to time.

Like today.

So, how've I been doing? Well, I've trained myself to feel full on much smaller portions, to eat more variety and less cheese, to snack less frequently and to eat ice cream and others sweets much less frequently. I've been taking yoga classes weekly since mid-September, and even practicing on my own sometimes. I've been wogging (alternately jogging and walking on a loop around my neighborhood) sporadically and have taken to ice skating weekly on Thursdays. I've given blood successfully, so my iron count must be fine, and my blood pressure is still nice and low. I haven't gotten around to going to a doctor yet, so I don't know any stats about my cholesterol, but I'm optimistic. And I finally called the office of a new doctor just before sitting down to write this, so I should be back on track with regular health care soon. (Okay, I need a dentist, too. I'm hoping the new doctor might have advice about local dentists who get the gluten-free thing.) I don't own a scale and haven't weighed myself, but I'm wearing one size smaller than I was last summer, and am getting comments from friends at work. I'm working really hard not to let my self-image get tied up in my weight, but I do feel better about myself, nonetheless.

A lot of my healthier eating has taken place through variety and portion control, more than through avoiding fats and sugars. I'm saving money by eating less and making my groceries last longer (and buying fewer of them when I shop).

So the recipe I invented today isn't exactly heart-healthy.

BUCKWHEAT BLUEBERRY BREAD

This is a sweet, almost toffee-ish bread with a crisp, chewy outside and soft inside. It's the descendant of my previous experiments with buckwheat-cornmeal pancakes, which I started doing when I had too much cooked buckwheat porridge and couldn't begin to face eating it anymore.



1 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp egg replacer
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 cup cooked buckwheat porridge
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan and dust the bottom and lower sides with cornmeal.
2. In a small bowl, combine the cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum and egg replacer. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, cream the butter with a wooden spoon. Add the brown sugar and cream well to combine. Mix in the egg and vanilla, stirring well until smooth. Add yogurt and mix thoroughly. Add buckwheat porridge, using back of spoon to mash if it has become solid from sitting, and mix until well combined.
4. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients until the surface is just coated, then mix them in. Repeat until all of dry ingredients have been added to wet, and the batter is uniform.
5. Fold in blueberries until well distributed. Pour batter into pan and use spoon to level top.
6. Bake about 1 hr, 10 min, or until bread is firm and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan about 10 minutes (which I didn't - oops!), then run a spatula around the edges of the pan before turning bread out onto a rack to cool completely.

Variations on the theme of breakfast

As I mentioned before, one of my favorite breakfast standbys is plain yogurt with almonds and honey. When berries are available, they're a must-add for this morning treat. One little muffin is a nice accompaniment, too.



In my ongoing quest to get as many of my foods from local sources as possible, I've started having my dairy delivered. The yogurt, though delivered by my local dairy, is still Stonyfield, which is ... from Vermont, I think? Two states away, but as I like to say, they make states little around here. The milk, however, is from right here in RI.

How cool is it that I can place my milk-delivery order online?

Breakfast

Last Saturday, I went to a farmers' market for one of the first times ... definitely the first time I've gone alone. Predictably, I went a little overboard, got a little overwhelmed and carried away. Among other things, I came home with a pound of fresh spinach AND a ginormous bag of salad greens. Add to that the fact that I'm teaching this week at a program that provides lunch, and I'm eating salad three meals a day just to keep ahead of the wilting.

Yesterday, I had a spinach salad, consisting just of a huge pile of rinsed, torn up, fresh spinach, a drizzle of apple cider vinegar, and a few thin shaves of 75%-reduced-fat cheddar cheese. Also a glass of water and, when it was ready, a small bowl of brown rice.

Today, I'm a bit sick of salad. So I've gone back to an old favorite: plain yogurt (about 8 oz), topped with a small handful of raw almonds and a drizzle of local honey (bought in my hometown, which I suppose makes it my hometown honey!). YUM.



I'll probably end up having some salad before I head over to work, just out of obligation.

Tarator

Whew! That introductory post was a bit tl;dr, wasn't it? Sorry.

Now that that's out of the way, here's a recipe I made this evening. It's wonderful in hot weather, because it requires no cooking and is cooling to eat.

This is a Bulgarian dish called Tarator. A couple of Bulgarian colleagues taught me how to make it, when I lived in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2000-2002. The garlic is apparently a variation that is preferred in the eastern city of Burgas, where one of my friends originated. I like it, so I use it. The walnuts were pecans when they taught me, but walnuts were not common in Mexico, so it's possible that they were the intended nut all along. Also, they're much cheaper, and have lots of Omega-6's in them.



Proportions are approximate. Feel free to eyeball it. Sorry that they're all in English units.

1/2 of a 1 qt container of plain yogurt
about 3-4 Tbs dried koper or dill weed
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 tsp sea salt, to taste
1 medium-sized cucumber, peeled
small handful (1/2 cup?) walnuts, chopped coarsely
cold water

I usually just mix this in a 1-qt plastic container. Fill it up about halfway with yogurt, then add koper or dill, minced garlic, and 1 tsp salt. Stir. Cut the cucumber into small pieces (I use a paring knife, cutting right above the container so the pieces fall in). Stir, making sure to distribute the cucumber as evenly as possible. Add walnuts and stir again. Add a little bit of water, maybe 1/4 cup, and stir, then check consistency. Add more water and salt as desired. I usually end up adding enough water to fill to near the top of the container.

Flavors meld with time, so I recommend letting your "soup" stand for about 1 hr before serving. Depending on freshness of cucumber and yogurt, this should keep at least a few days in the fridge, tightly covered.

Много добре!