Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 5, 2010
Kay's Cooking Corner
Kay Bona
All this snowy, cold weather has left me in search of warm, cozy recipes. This past week, I made a large pot of chili, a large pot of beef-barley vegetable soup, and a casserole of creamy, cheesy enchiladas; all great dishes for staying inside and watching the snow and ice. And there was plenty of that to look at, unless you live in Miami, which had 70 degree weather!
I would say I’m moving, but since I can’t take all of my family with me, (which would be necessary for me) that is pretty much out of the picture.
The good thing about living in the South is that even though snow and ice (mostly ice) may come in roaring like a lion and cripple our activities, it’s just or a day or so before it is gone.
Anyway, I am still craving “comfy” foods. Foods that smell up the whole house as they cook and make you feel good all over! Foods that, after you have eaten them, you get the warm, comfortable feeling you used to get after a large family meal at Grandma’s house with all the brothers, sisters and cousins. Foods, that as a child, your mom would cook just for you when you were sickly. Those foods.
One of the best foods for stirring up some of those emotions is bread. I don’t bake too many breads these days, even though I have a very nice bread machine that makes baking a loaf, dummy-proof. It is just easier to pick up a loaf at the local bakery. However, I do have a great recipe that I want to share, and by the way, have recently made. And yeah, it was yummy and smelled up the whole house with its goodness!
This bread is wonderful, hearty bread you can serve with just about anything – even if you just toast it and slather butter all over it. It’s healthy too, with all the oats and stuff. You can make it even healthier by using an artificial sweetener (like Truvia) and a heart-healthy butter substitute.
I wrote an article about the sweeteners Truvia and Stevia a few years back. These were big in the Chinese and Japanese markets and at that time were making their way into the American market, although there were no advertisements and the only places you could find them was in health food stores. Both remained somewhat anonymous until the manufacturing biggie, Cargill, managed to pick up Truvia.
Stevia is either the name loosely used to refer to the stevia plant itself, or the supplements/ sweeteners made from stevia. Rebiana is the name given to the best tasting ingredient of the plant. Truvia is a brand of zero-calorie sweetener, manufactured using the compound rebiana. Truvia, manufactured by Cargill, comes from Paraguay and China, where the stevia crop is harvested. It tastes like sugar and has no after taste.
Another sweetener derived from the stevia plant, stevioside, was developed by the Japanese in the late 1970’s, and now controls about 40 percent of the sweetener market in Japan. The sweetness of stevioside lasts longer than sugar, but at higher concentrations, and it has a bitter aftertaste.
That is about all the cozy, hearty, and sweet little facts I have right now. I’m going to take a break and go eat a slice of toasted, (heart-friendly) buttered, homemade bread! P.S. to Amy: Give your new bread machine a spin with this one!
Oatmeal-pecan loaf bread machine recipe
1-1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned
oatmeal
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons bread machine
yeast
Measure carefully, placing all ingredients in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Set crust color at Light or Medium.
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