Treat Yourself to a Piece of History!

Treat Yourself to a Piece of History!

The sweet tooth of the world can be traced back around 4,000 years, however, the most popular delicacy of all time did not appear until the time of the ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures.

600 A.D. the Mayans migrated into the northern regions of South America. The earliest known cocoa plantations were established in the Yucatan. Both Mayans and Aztecs used the beans from the cacao tree and made a drink they called xocoatl. Aztec legends say the cacao seeds had come from Paradise and people who partook of the seeds gained wisdom.

Ancient Mexicans worshiped Tonacetecutli, the goddess of food, and Calchiuhtlucue, the goddess of water. The believed the two goddesses were the guardians of cocoa. With that in mind, each year, human sacrifices were performed to the goddesses. Part of the victim’s last meal?? Cocoa!

In the 1700’s, Swedish naturalist, Carolus Linnaeus, renamed ‘cocoa’ to ‘theobroma’ which is Greek for ‘food of the gods’.

It is purported that cacao beans were brought back to the court of King Ferdinand by Christopher Columbus from his fourth visit to the New World. Given the sparse information to this possible fact, the cacao beans were probably overlooked midst the many other treasures found that trip.

In 1519, Hernando Cortez visited the court of Montezuma. According to historian William Hickling’s History of the Conquest of Mexico (1838), Montezuma drank no other beverage but chocolatl. The general ‘recipe’ for chocolatl was a paste of the cacao bean, flavored with spices and vanilla which was reduced to a thick froth which gradually dissolved in the mouth. The drink was served cold.

Cortez brought chocolate back to the royal court of Kind Charles V in 1529. The cacao beans were secretly processed in the monasteries and chocolate was kept a secret for almost one hundred years. Italian traveler, Antonio Carletti, discovered chocolate in 1606 and it began its journey into other parts of Europe.

The first chocolate house is said to have opened in London around 1657 by a Frenchman. Being expensive, it was considered a drink for the elite. A quote from sixteenth-century Spanish historian, Oviedo, stated, “None but the rich and noble could afford to drink chocolatl as it was literally drinking money.”

Chocolate was also considered of medicinal value. Cardinal Richelieu dosed his various illnesses with it.

By 1730, the price of chocolate had dropped from approximately three dollars a pound to a cost that made it accessible to classes other than the extremely wealthy. In 1828, the invention of the cocoa press cut prices further and improved the quality of the end product. The Industrial Revolution furthered the popularity of chocolate.

Americans were introduced to chocolate at Prince Albert’s Exposition in 1851. John Hanan brought cacao beans to Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1765. The first chocolate factory was established there. For many centuries, chocolate was considered only a beverage. Actually eating chocolate began in 1674 in the from of cakes and pastries. With the use of a steam engine for grinding cacao beans in 1795, Joseph Fry of Bristol, English, was able to manufacture chocolate on a large scale. In 1847, Fry & Sons sold “Chocolat Delicieux a Manger” which is believed to be the first chocolate bar for eating. Nestle states that from 1800 to the present, four factors contributed to chocolate’s coming of age as a food product:

1. Introduction of cocoa powder in 1828
2. Reduction of excise duties
3. Improvements in transportation facilities, from plantation to factory.
4. The invention of eating chocolate.

Naturally from the 1800’s on, chocolate has continued to change and grow. The quick candy bar you grab for a snack today is a lot different from what was available one hundred years ago. The next time you let a delicious piece of chocolate melt in your mouth, don’t feel guilty about the calories because you are experiencing history! With that fact firmly in place, take advantage of the availability of chocolate today and try the following hot chocolate recipe and gift your friends with a New Year’s treat.

Hot Chocolate Mix

11 cups of powdered dry milk
2 cups of powdered sugar
11 oz. powdered non-dairy creamer
2 lbs of instant chocolate drink mix
4 heaping tbsp. of unsweetened cocoa
1 small box of instant chocolate pudding mix
2 bags Mini marshmallows
6 quart-sized mason jars – or decide the size you want for gifting.

Blend the powdered milk in a food processor until finely ground.  Mix all ingredients except marshmallows. Layer 6 tbsp of mix followed by a good handful of marshmallows until the jar is full, ending with the mix. Makes 6 one quart jars of hot chocolate mix. Don’t forget to add a direction tag: To make a cup of delicious hot chocolate, add 3-4 tablespoons of mix to six ounces of hot water.

You can change the taste around with the addition of some cinnamon to the dry mix. It’s fun to include a stick of cinnamon bark to each jar, too, for a festive addition. Grinding up some vanilla bean into the dry mix can never go wrong.

Asian Sesame Noodles

Even though my husband are gluten-free, I still make this dish for my children who love anything that includes pasta. Since it is an easy dish and I can prepare the sauce and toppings ahead, it usually isn’t a problem to cook it while finishing my other dinner entrees. If you want to enjoy this recipe gluten-free, there are some great pastas out there that will give you a good result, too.

Asian Sesame Noodles (fast and easy dinner!)
1 pound linguine or angel hair pasta
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
4 peeled cloves of garlic, smashed and finely chopped
Sriracha sauce to taste
4 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
Toasted sesame oil to taste
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
1 green onion, very thinly sliced

Combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, Sriracha, olive oil, and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the sesame oil to taste.
Cook the pasta until just done, drain, and toss the warm pasta with the prepared sauce. Stir in the green onions and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Ideas . . .
If you have some leftover chicken, you can dice it and toss with the finished noodle dish.
A scrambled egg, finely broken up can be added for a change of taste and more protein in the dish.

The Missing Ingredient!

I love making birthday treats for my friends and even though I now bake without the benefit of wheat flour, I’m getting no complaints! In fact, my own family prefers gluten-free baked goods at home.

Now, when you go to the store and look at their gluten-free offerings, you probably are quite happy that you don’t have to eat that stuff. I agree! There aren’t too many commercial gluten-free baked goods that look/taste worth the price or bother to try and ingest. Things have come a long way with gluten-free but, like anything in life, if you want good stuff, you have to make it yourself. So far, the people I gift with a plate of cookies or cupcakes in my neighborhood have no idea about the missing ingredient!

Yesterday, was birthday baking day, a favorite time for me! It gives me a chance to experiment and create. Yesterday’s birthday goodies were for a friend turning 25 – a quarter of a century old! Since she has a large family with different tastes, cupcakes were the answer and I baked pumpkin, cinnamon/vanilla, and chocolate fudge. Except for using a gluten-free flour blend, the mixing and baking was pretty much the same . . . and the outcome? Well, I’m posting a picture for bragging rights!

So as not to be selfish, anyone looking to try gluten-free baking, the best blend I’ve found to date is BetterBatter. And the best part of their product? They have a lot of recipes on-line, they always work well, and the recipes are free. I’ve even successfully adapted their flour blend to ‘normal’ recipes with success. The key is weighing the gluten-free flour not measuring it. A cup of gluten-free flour is heavier than a cup of regular, all-purpose flour. You don’t weigh it, your result might be dense and unappealing. Don’t ask me how I know that!

Having to Go Gluten Free Does Not Foreshadow the End Times . . .

As I’ve mentioned before, going gluten-free for us was an accidental health benefit. We initially decided to try this out of interest and a challenge. Within two weeks, we discovered that my husband no longer suffered from indigestion and drastically reduced his intake of medication just to survive a meal. A little research discovered that the lactose intolerance he dealt with for years and years but just a clamor from his body notifying him that gluten was the culprit. When we omitted gluten from our diet, he no longer at a problem with dairy products. No more digestive medication in order to eat a meal.

Naturally, once we knew it was not going to be an experiment in diet but a lifestyle for the sake of my husband’s health, my time in the kitchen got serious. Yes, generally, the main necessities of eating didn’t involve gluten but we began to think wistfully of things like pizza, cake, cookies, pasta which would be difficult to work around. A lot of internet surfing, research, and reading and anyone who enjoys a meal at our home, doesn’t even realize they are eating gluten free.

My first, gluten-free recipe book was a fortunate choice and the author made is clear that with some ingenuity and patience, most anything in the gluten world could be transported into the realm of gluten-free.

Gluten-Free on a Shoestring by Nicole Hunn took the mystery out of cooking and baking gluten-free and, if you follow her recipes carefully, you can be successful every time.

Gluten-Free on a Shoestring, Quick and Easy by Nicole Hunn soon joined my bookshelf. I think it was the chocolate donut on the cover that got me. Thanks to her, we can enjoy chocolate donuts, cinnamon donuts, powdered sugar donuts . . . along with 99 other great recipes in the book.

When I heard about it, I immediately signed up and paid in advance pending publication of Nicole Hunn’s latest book Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread. It did not disappoint and we are able to enjoy sandwiches, rolls, and a ton more without jeopardizing my husband’s health.

I did have a bit of nostalgia for my favorite American’s Test Kitchen recipes and magazines. Imagine my happiness when I was browsing through Costco, one day, and discovered America’s Test Kitchens has published The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook! It seems to complete my wishes in a gluten-free world! The advantage of this cookbook is that they always explain WHY something is done or used in a recipe.

Of course these are only four of a shelf-full of gluten-free books I’ve acquires in my wanderings. Last year I made a complete Chinese meal for my husband’s birthday including gluten-free Pot stickers. The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen by Laura B. Russell is a staple in my cookbook line up.

In other words, if you find your need to omit gluten and related wheat products from your menu, life is definitely not over. In fact, there seems to be more adventure in trying new recipes because you can!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Since I’m a huge fan of BetterBatter Flour Blend, i’m always looking for recipes using that particular brand. I have yet to have a failure with it and my children tell me my cakes and cupcakes taste better gluten-free.

I found this recipe, today. and, as you can see from the picture, they worked out well. I didn’t have sour cream on hand so I put a tablespoon of vinegar into milk to make up the required amount called for re. the sour cream and the results were good. Here is the link to the recipe:

http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/devils-food-layer-cake-with-better-batter/

I just threw together a quick frosting using a stick of softened butter, vanilla extract, three cups or so of powdered sugar, and enough milk to make a spreadable frosting. My daughter, all of 24 years of age, insisted they needed the sprinkles, too.

Southern-Style White Bread – Gluten-Free!

Since we’ve had to go gluten-free for my husband’s health, i’m always on the hunt for good, bread recipes. I have never purchased any commercially-baked gluten-free products from the store. Just picking up one of those ‘bricks’ of bread was enough warning for me to avoid them at all costs.

Just a few years ago, it was difficult to find substitutes for simple enjoyments like bread but, these days, you just have to Google your wants and you instantly have a multitude of recipes from which to choose. Still, you have to be careful or you can bake your own ‘bricks’!

https://betterbatter.org/southern-style-white-bread
This recipe, however, has produced some really great bread products for our needs. The first time I tried it, i shaped the dough into hamburger buns and I don’t think anyone could have told the difference or realized it was not a wheat flour product. Yesterday, I was making a turkey dinner and needed bread for the stuffing. I baked the dough in loaf pans and the stuffing was the best it could be. One of my children used a slice spread with cranberry sauce for a snack.

Although you could probably use most any gluten-free ‘flour’ mixture for this recipe, I prefer and use the BetterBatter brand. It is the best-priced and has consistently worked in every gluten-free recipe I’ve tried so far. How much do I like it? I buy 25 pounds at a time!

Gluten-Free Cheddar Crackers

Snacking and wheat products seems to go together so I decided to figure out a way to have a healthy snack on hand that kept within my self-imposed dietary restrictions. This is what I came up with and I plan to make another batch . . . soon!

Cheddar Crackers
3 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup slightly toasted sesame seeds
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup finely grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoon olive oil

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix to form into a dough. Divide the dough in half. On a large working surface, lay out a sheet of parchment paper and pat down one portion of the dough on it a bit. Cover with another sheet of parchment and using a rolling pin, flatten out the dough as thinly as possible, about an eighth of an inch. Carefully remove the top parchment paper and move to a baking sheet and place the whole thing, bottom layer of parchment and rolled out dough on it. Repeat with the second portion of dough.

You have the option of cutting it into squares, but not taking them off the parchment before baking or just baking the whole sheet and breaking them into random pieces after baking.

Bake in a preheated, 350 degree oven for approximately ten minutes but check to avoid burning or under cooking. Cool and serve. Keep in a closed container after completely cooled.