Dog Food Formula

From Small Animal Clinical Nutrition via Marion Nestle and Malden Nesham's Feed your Pet Right

for 40lb dog - daily rations
Cooked Grains   - 8 oz
Cooked Meat      - 4 oz
Fat/Oil                 - 2 tsp
Vegetable/Fibre  - 1 oz
Bone Meal/dicalcium phosphate supp.   - 1 tsp
Potassium Chloride supp  1/4 tsp
Human adult multivitamin    - 1

for smaller dogs, cut portion size accordingly.

According to Nestle, Nesham, true allergies are an overreaction of the immune system to foreign proteins.  In humans, 90% of allergies are caused by: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat.  There's no stat on % for dogs.  Best route for treating allergies seems to be the elimination diet which takes forever, but will enable the identification of the trigger food.  Alternately, you can try switching commercial foods till you find one that doesn't have any adverse effects.  I'm trying the home-cooked route with ACV spray and the odd anti-histamine tablet when necessary.

Green Tomato Salsa

yet another recipe for me to try...

Farmgirl Susan's No Sugar Green Tomato Relish 
Makes about 3 pints    Recipe may be doubled; increase cooking time by 10-15 minutes

2 lb. green tomatoes, cored and chopped
1 lb. white or yellow onions, chopped
3/4 lb. sweet red peppers, cored and chopped
1/2 lb. tart cooking apples, such as Granny Smith, cored and chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup 5% acidic apple cider vinegar (or less, see note below)*
1 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt
4 jalapeno peppers, cored, seeded if desired, and finely chopped
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)

Combine the tomatoes, onions, peppers, apples, garlic, vinegar, and salt in a large, nonreactive pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about an hour.

Stir in the jalapenos, cilantro, and cumin and simmer for 5 more minutes. Carefully purée the mixture using a stick immersion blender or in a traditional counter top blender, in batches if necessary, until still somewhat chunky. Don't over mix; you don't want it smooth.

If canning, return the puréed relish to a boil, then ladle the hot mixture into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Process 15 minutes in a waterbath canner. Store in a cool, dark place.

Slow Roast Eye of Round

I normally do the high heat method, but Cook's Illustrated disapproves.  I approve of CI, so therefore, I must try my next eye of round this way:

For a 3 1/2- 4 1/2 lb roast, they suggested 4 tsp of kosher salt and for a 2-2 1/2 lb roast 3 tsp. They give a conversion to table salt of 1 1/2 tsp.

To paraphrase the rest of the recipe;

1. Salt the roast, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate 18-24 hours.
2. Pat dry the roast, rub with 2 tsp of vegetable oil (i used olive oil) and some freshly cracked pepper. Sear in hot skillet on all sides.  about 3 minutes per side in a hot cast iron skillet so it is deeply brown.
3. Add to wire rack in rimmed baking sheet and put in preheated 225 degree oven. Roast until thermometer inserted into center of roast registers 115 degrees for medium-rare, 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 hours, or 125 degrees for medium, 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 hours. Since my roast was smaller (3 lb) and I like my meat closer to rare, I took it out at 112 degrees which took about an hour.
4. Turn oven off, leave roast in oven, without opening door, until meat-probe thermometer or instant-read thermometer inserted into center of roast registers 130 degrees for medium-rare or 140 degrees for medium, 30 to 50 minutes longer. As I said, I took it out at 125 degrees which took about 20 minutes.
5. Rest for 15 min and slice thinly. 

Mustard Pickle

For Helen:

(From Victory Garden Cook Book.)
    1 bunch of celery,
    3 qts. green tomatoes,
    3 qts onions,
    1 cauliflower,
    4-5 green peppers,
    Kosher Salt,
    2 qts vinegar,
    5 TBS.dry mustard,
    2/3 cup of flour
    3/4 tsp.turmeric,
    3-4 cups sugar,
    1 small hot red pepper,
 
 Wash celery,remove leaves and string if necessary, cut into1/2 inch slices.Wash ,core and slice tomatoes.Peel and slice onions.Wash the cauliflower,divide into small flowers,and cut the fleshy parts into small pieces.Wash and clean the peppers and cut into chunks.Make a brine of 1 cup of salt for every 2 qts of water.Put the cut up vegetables in a large stainless steel kettle and cover with brine.Let stand overnight.The following morning heat to boiling point.
    Meanwhile make the sauce by combining the Vinegar,dry mustard,flour,termeric and sugar to taste.Mince the hot pepper.Bring the sauce to the boil and add the hot pepper.Taste and adjust seasonings. Drain the boiling brine from the vegetables.Then combine the hot vegetables and the boiling sauce.Mix thoroughly and ladel into hot jars,leave a 1/4 inch head space. Adjust caps and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. ( makes 16-20 pints) 

Cheddar Pennies

I tried some cheddar pennies at a winery in Prince Edward County and was impressed by their potential.  The ones I bought were actually overcooked and tasted almost burnt, but two or three were not overcooked and those were yummy.  Hence, search for a good recipe for Cheddar Pennies, which taste like shortbread - perhaps because they are shortbread...

Spicy Cheddar Shortbread
makes about 30 cookies  (as pub. in Eat In Eat Out, with correction and no pecans)
oven: 350
cream together
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, room temperature, (or use salted and skip the salt)
1/2 tsp salt
15 grinds black pepper (twee!!  I'm thinking that's about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp)
2 tbls smoked paprika
1 tsp cayenne

then mix in with a wooden spoon:200 grams finely grated sharp cheddar
1 cup unbleached flour
once mixed, use hands to work the dough until it sticks together.  Roll dough into two logs, wrap in parchment paper and stick in fridge for 20 minutes or freeze for later.

Slice rounds 1/4" thick, arrange on cookie sheet, brush with 1 egg white and 1 tsp water mix, salt wth fleur de sel or coursely ground kosher, then bake for 15 minutes (until slightly golden, and don't overbake).

Mark Bittman's version

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, plus more for greasing the pan

• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne

• 
  

• Directions

• Heat the oven to 400°F. Cut the stick of butter into chunks. Grease a baking sheet with more butter. Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse several times; as soon as the mixture resembles coarse meal, stop. Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic, wrap it, and press it gently into a ball. Refrigerate the dough for at least 20 minutes or up to several hours.   (Mixing Shortbread Pulse all the ingredients until the dough is evenly colored and textured; there should be no big lumps. The dough may crumble, but use the plastic wrap to press it into shape. If you pulse to the point where the dough starts to come together, you’ve gone too far.)

• 
  

• Pinch off heaping tablespoon-sized pieces of the dough and roll them into 1-inch balls with your hands. (Rotate your hands in opposite directions, using gentle pressure to roll pinches of dough into a ball shape.) Put the balls on the prepared pan, leaving 2 inches between them. Press down on each ball with your fingers to flatten it to 3/4 inch thick. (For a more uniform look, grease the bottom of a drinking or shot glass and use that.) If there is dough left over when the sheet is filled, wait and cook a second batch.

• 
  

• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the shortbreads are puffed and golden brown. When they’re cool enough to handle, transfer them to a wire rack and bake the remaining dough. Serve right away or store covered at room temperature for up to 1 day.

• 
  

Bon Appetit version

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• Pinch of cayenne pepper

• 8 ounces extra-sharp white Cheddar cheese, finely shredded

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Using electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat together butter, salt, black pepper, and cayenne at low speed just until blended. Add Cheddar and flour and mix at low speed just until smooth (do not overmix). Shape dough into disk, wrap in plastic wrap or waxed paper, and chill 30 minutes.

Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4- to 1/8-inch-thick round. Using 1 1/2- to 2-inch round cutter, cut out rounds and arrange 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets. Reroll scraps if desired (rerolled scraps will be tougher).

Bake shortbread until lightly golden and beginning to brown on edges, about 13 to 15 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Roasted Nectarine Chutney

I'm not really crazy about how this turned out.  I think next time I'd try a different recipe, but this is good for a change.  I'd increase the rosemary and finely chop the onions instead of slicing.  The lemons could probably be finely sliced and then diced, or perhaps zested first, then have the pith peeled off, then chopped.  Anyway, still worth trying if you want a change from the usual chutney. 

1.1kg (21/2lb) nectarines, (10 - 12) stoned and quartered (can sub apples or plums)
675g (11/2l lb) red onions, finely sliced
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 lemon, halved, pips removed and finely sliced
2 tbsp rosemary leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
250ml (9fl oz) cider vinegar
500g (1lb 2oz) demerara sugar

 Oven at 375ºC

Put all the ingredients except the sugar into a large roasting tin. Mix well and roast for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Continue cooking for about another 30 minutes. When the mixture starts to reduce and colour, add the sugar. Cook for a further 30 minutes, stirring twice during this time.

The chutney should be fairly dry and any liquid should be quite syrupy and jam-like. The fruit should still be discernible in shape. Take care not to allow the mixture to burn as it starts to caramelise.

Spoon into cooled, sterilised jars and cover with vinegar-proof lids. Label and store. This chutney can be used straight away but the flavour will mature with keeping.

Cauliflower

Sometimes I astonish myself.

Grated 9 cauliflower today.  Yes, 9.  I was stocking up because they were beautiful, on sale, and a fairly large part of our diet at times.  So 9 grated cauliflower, bagged and into the freezer.  I grated the central stem of each cauliflower with the florets because it cooks just the same.

Which left the leaves of 9 cauliflower.  I discarded all the dried, cut off ends and any blemished leaves or stalks.  I ended up with about 3 cups of waste, including all the crumbs and things from the grating process.  That went in the compost bin.  The leaves and stems I ran through the food processor on slice and turned them into a bit of a braise, cooking them in some pork fat until tender, then combining with some cooked slices of onions.  For dinner, I added some shredded pork, two diced tomato in an Indian flavoured dish (seasoned with garlic, chilli, ginger, green curry paste, yellow curry powder).  I served some of this for lunch today and there's enough left over to have as a side dish tonight.

That left me with about 4 cups of the sliced, pork fat and onion seasoned, cooked cauliflower stalks.  Hmmmm.  Into the food blender for cauliflower soup with a vegetable bouillon cube and a bit of milk.  Great, except a little fibrous. So, through a strainer.  Great soup.  So finally, I was left with about 2 cups of cooked, somewhat chewy, flavoured but pressed dry cauliflower stalks which I mixed with an egg and a cup of mozzaralla and baked at 450 in a pizza shape to give me a low-carb pizza bread for lunch tomorrow.

The only stuff I threw out was stuff that was either bad, completely dried out, or yellow.
Take that, hunger challenge.

Swiss Chard

It never ends...the leaves get away on me and I feel overwhelmed... until I actually cook this, and then I remember how yummy Swiss chard can be.

Caramelize two med/large yellow onions, hopefully in some yummy fat
After the onions begin to turn, make a space in the centre and add about 3 slices of bacon, slivered into 1/2 inch pieces, and let them cook in the centre until they are almost crisp.  This is all being done on a med. low heat, btw.

Once bacon is ready, add in about 1 pound of swiss chard leaves, washed, stemmed, and sliced into 1 inch wide strips.  I generally just fold the leaf over to destem it, and then continue the slicing on up to end up with 2 1/2 leaves before 1 cut a big pile into strips.  Let the swiss chard cook down gently in the onion mixture and after about 10 minutes, add in some finely chopped garlic and a few dashes of hot pepper sauce or flakes as per your preference.

Finally, place some meat on top of this.  Several options - tinned sardines and pine nuts, cooked sausages and mozzarella, cooked chicken breast and feta.  Sort of up to you and depending what's in your cupboard.  Serve warm or hot.  Actually, chicken, sausage, feta, and spinach is my favourite pizza combination, so that would work too.  Off to try that now.

Still haven't found an absolutely delicious stalk recipe.  I've found several fine ones, roasted with Parmesan, boiled with parsley, but nothing worth writing down.  A gratin or a bechamel sauce is just cheating.  Cardboard tastes yummy cooked that way, so I'll keep trying.

Savoury Biscotti

Going up to buy some white port, and I thought I'd stash this recipe for when I have it...plus the savoury cheddar one too.

Stilton and Walnut Biscotti

• 2 large eggs
• 100 g (1 cup) crumbled Stilton cheese
• 150 g (1 cup plus 2 TB) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 50 g (1/2 cup) chopped walnut pieces

Preheat your oven to 350F.

With the eggs and cheese in the bowl of your food processor let it run for about a minute. The cheese will thicken the eggs and the texture should become fairly smooth.

Add the flour, salt, and baking powder and pulse three or four times. Don't overwork the flour, you just want to integrate it. The dough should entirely come together because once you turn it out onto a counter you want to be able to spread the chopped nuts over top, gently knead it, and then form it into a roughly-shaped log with the nuts distributed throughout.  The two smallest dimensions of your piece of dough should be about an inch and three inches, respectively.

Transfer the dough to a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat or parchment paper and bake for twenty to twenty-five mintues. After ten minutes of cooling on a wire rack slice the once-baked dough into half-inch slices and bake again for thirty minutes, flipping the slices halfway through.

Bittman's savoury cheddar

2 eggs

1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste.

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put the eggs and cheese in a food processor and process until yellow and thick, about a minute. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne and pulse three or four times, just to integrate the dry ingredients; you don’t want to overwork the gluten in the flour.

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead it until it holds together — it may be a bit crumbly at first. Shape the dough into an 8- to 10-inch log, transfer to the prepared baking sheet and gently flatten.

3. Bake until the log begins to color and is firm to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes, then cut on the bias into half-inch slices. Lay the biscotti flat on the baking sheet and bake until crisp and toasted, 15 minutes; turn and toast the second side for another 10 to 15 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Yield: About 16 biscotti.