Yogurt by You

Yogurt is not just for active, young females wearing capris smiling ecstatically about regulating their bowels, despite what marketing may have indicated. Your teeth may not be perfectly white, you may not be dancing in a big white room, but you may enjoy a creamy milk product minus the lactose and the benefits of probiotics. And boy howdy are there benefits.

Glamor shot.

It may come to no surprise to you that you have more bacterial cells than human cells in and on you at this moment. I think the science/health community has used that shock statement enough times, but it still gets me thinking every time. People just look so, I don’t know, human. It’s hard to imagine an underwater garden of life flourishing right in the cradle of our pelvises. It’s ball-parked that there are about 100 trillion microrganisms that hail from 500 species in the bowel of the average joe. It’s even harder to imagine the massive impact these bacteria have on our day-to-day lives. Changes in microbiota can create an inflammatory state, possibly leading to things as dramatic as obesity and late-onset autism. Inflammation plays a big role in a lot of chronic diseases, and probiotics seem to play a role in reducing or preventing that inflammation.

Consuming probiotics regularly can support a healthy gut flora, which leads to a whole host of benefits, including treatment of IBS, reduction in cavities, improved nutrient absorption at the level of the gut, and protection from colon cancer. Plus, well-fermented foods have an acidic, tangy taste that can really add dimension to otherwise flat or boring meals.

Buying proper probiotic foods from the health store is super freaking expensive. Trying to keep up with our yogurt consumption requires us to buy a huge tub of it, which takes up precious real estate in our fridge and really adds up. So I’ve started to make our yogurt. “Make” feel like a strong word because it’s so passive and easy. I’d rather say I’ve started to “let yogurt happen”.

My precious.

This is almost embarrassing as a recipe because it is so easy. You are going to need some pre-made yogurt to get the party started, so you need to make sure that the yogurt you buy has active cultures (buying from the health food store will pretty much garuntee this). I’m giving you two options too- the really easy one, and the very slightly more involved one which results in a thicker final product. This is a “warm weather” recipe because it works best in above 20 degrees C (if you have a very good oven, you could set it to 100 degrees F and set it in and that would work, but my oven is waaaay to unpredictable for this). I have some experimenting to do with my last years semi-dangerous heating-pad/huge pot solution to make it easier to make during the winter, so I will keep you posted. So far I’m experimenting with my slow cooker on “warm” setting as a water bath, and a standard cooler filled with some hot water. May the rigorous scientific experiment begin! In the meantime, make this while there is still some sun in the sky, and enjoy some homemade super cheap yogurt.

Embarrassingly easy.

Straight-Up Yogurt

1 L whole milk

1 Tbsp (15 mL) plain yogurt with live cultures

1) Clean out a glass 1 L (1 quart) jar thoroughly. Take some boiling water and swish it around the inside (warm up the jar first a bit, we don’t want broken glass up in here) to sterilize it. Without touching the inside with your fingers (it is now sterile!), allow it to sit and cool.

2) Pour in the milk. Mix in the yogurt culture with a very clean spoon. Place the lid on, and very loosely screw it on, so that it’s not sealed.

3) Place in a warm part of your house. For me, that’s on the kitchen table where it gets a good bit of sun warmth, or on top of the fridge where the motor gets a little heat going. For you, it might be in the oven with the light turned on (remember that it’s in there when you go to preheat it!). It might just be on the counter.

4) Leave in your warm spot. Do not disturb it or shake it. Come back in 12-24 hours to check. If you are lactose intolerant, you are going to want to go 24 hrs to let all the lactose get digested. The yogurt should have thickened up (it will still be less thick than commercial yogurt) and have a tangy taste. IF THERE IS ANY MOLD (I have never ever had this): start again. Do not consume.

5) Rejoice and eat yogurt. Use this batch as the starter for your next lot! Try and use it to start the new batch within the week so it is still fresh.

Thicker-than-Ever Yogurt

You are going to want to follow the same basic idea as the recipe above, but with two changes.

1) On the stove top, heat your 1 L of milk until it starts to form little bubbles on the surface. For those of you who have thermometers (which should really be all of you especially if you are inexperienced in the kitchen. Getting off soapbox) you are going to want it to hit about 82 degrees C (180 degrees F). You’re not looking for a full boil, just some steam action.

2) Allow to cool to about 43 degrees C (110 degrees F). For those of you without thermometers, it should be still a little hot, but not so hot that you couldn’t comfortable hold a super-ridiculously-clean finger in it (according to Sandor Katz). Stir in your yogurt culture.

Follow steps 3) and 4) above.

5) To get this even thicker, you can strain your yogurt through cheesecloth. Line a strainer or colander with 3-4 layers of cheese cloth. Place the strainer/colander over a bowl. Gently pour in your yogurt. You can gently twist the cheese cloth around it to speed up the process. Place something over it to keep it clean, and come back to check it after it’s been hanging out and straining for 1-3 hrs. I usually just do 1 hr.

6) Carefully scrape the yogurt out of the cheesecloth into a container. After straining, there may be a slight ricotta-like texture to the yogurt. If there is, just give your whisking muscles a good workout and you should get creamy, thick yogurt.

8) That liquid that came out of the yogurt is called “whey” (heard of whey powder?). You can use whey to jump-start all sort of other fermentation adventures, or you can use it in cooking/baking in place of water/milk. Refrigerate it if you have no plans to use it immediately.

9) If you want to make it even richer, you can add a small amount of heavy cream to really bring out the creaminess. 2 Tbsp- 1/4 c should be plenty!

Label me this.

I have always been careful to characterize myself as the kind of person who doesn’t use whiteout. Such a little thing, but for some reason I feel like it has something to say about my character. I look at whiteout as, at best, a smelly substance that takes up room in my bag, and at worst, a testament to your character (attempting, uncreative, perfectionist). I cross out my mistakes, with some scribbly little blackout version. That’s right, I also use a black pen. I don’t take blue pen as seriously- it doesn’t command the page like a thick, black line does. When I use a blue pen I think it makes the page look watery, and my words start to waver. And don’t mention other colours of pens- sure I have many, many different colours of pens, but they are not main-body pens. They are accents, for underlining, circling, crossing, highlighting, and noting. When I find pages that I dashed down in a hurry using a purple, or worse, green pen, I feel so strained as I try and read the weak, “poorly articulated” lines. If Tolsty had handed me “War and Peace” and it was in green pen, I would have handed it back and told him to try harder.

What does this say, apart from the fact that I clearly have a neuroticism relating to office supplies? I like to project meaning onto inanimate objects, and that projection extends in particular to food. And I’m surely not the only one. Eating “bad food” can make me feel like a “bad person”, and I feel a lot of guilt when I extend the same judgment onto other people. I am in no position to impose my own food projections onto other people, and it is completely unfair. I have to actively council myself to go against these judgments, which have clearly been created and perpetuated as the “normal” perception in our society. You can eat “good”, or you can eat “bad”. You are a good person, or you are a bad person.

This is why I’ve had an aversion to labels- I don’t want to project meaning onto mine or, in particular, other people’s food choices. Why do people feel the need to label their eating?  Sure, you can be gluten-free with a peanut allergy- that contains useful information, like I shouldn’t eat peanut butter around you and if I invite you out to dinner we will be skipping the breadbasket. But so many other things we say are really unnecessary. Arguing amongst the alienating labels of vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, paleo, primal, zone, raw, fruitatarian, and more takes a group of people who genuinely are interested in a healthier population, and make them enemies. Good quality food, available from every possible food group, is surely the right answer for everyone. Sure, we can argue about acai until the grass-fed cows come home, but it is beside the point. Whole foods. Single ingredients. Quality foods. Isn’t that as important as being right? This has always been reason enough for me to avoid labels. Until I realized that sometimes the nuance of the attitudes a lot of these “alternative eating” groups might be more important that I thought.

Taking a bite as an adult isn’t like taking a bite as a child. The holiday cover for “Today’s Dietetian” said “This Holiday, Prevent Childhood Obesity”- a far cry from the friendly holiday wishes of the past. Mixed messages abound too- “don’t make a big deal out of holiday meals so kids don’t get attached, don’t make food the most important part” to “take time to savour your food- think about every bite and enjoy all the flavours on your palate” to “enjoy your dinner as a family and allow children to pick the food for themselves” to “don’t serve family style- children will choose too much of the wrong thing and end up eating themselves until they are stuffed”. Manufactured messages and tense attitudes. Wishy-washy “healthy” ideas. I support health. This magazine supports health. So is there a difference after all? Is that why we have to label ourselves? Maybe.

It didn’t take much though for me to decide that I’m against stuff like this. I’m against making food something formal and “fuel only” based. I’m also against making food something frivolous and inconsequential. I’m against breaking everything down and attaching guilt. If I’m so against some things, then there must be things that I’m for. That’s why I decided to label myself as someone who eats and prepares food according to traditions. I’m for having the skills and available ingredients to make quality meals at home. I’m for nourishing our bodies with good foods, and not having to pour over labels for ages. It might not mean everything, but it’s something, and it’s time I’m “for” something and not just “against”.

So, why?

This is the post where I tell you a bit about my medical history and hope that it isn’t overly personal. I’m not sure if this is a form of justification as to why I am suddenly upfront about my diet, or if I want to break down the barriers and taboos around discussing health issues (particularly women’s health issues). So, whether selfish, noble, or meek, here we go.

My health hasn’t always been perfect, which can be extra hard because from the outside I look like a robust twenty-something who could bounce back like all the other twenty-something folks. I am sure lots of you 20-somethings know what I’m talking about- people expect you to be the healthiest population in society, and we don’t always live up to that. My external self doesn’t always do the best job of representing what is going on.

One of the big things I’ve had to deal with was a heart palpitation issue, which resulted in relatively debilitating palpitations on a regular basis. I “pushed through” and maintained school/work as per normal even while it disrupted my life which, though it sounds noble, was actually really hard and I’d have to think hard as to whether I would do it again if put in a similar situation. My marks suffered, which was probably the hardest part and not something I handle particularly well. Two minor heart surgeries (ablations) later, and the heart is all good. I’m so glad it is now resolved, and extra glad that it was a relatively easy fix.

The heart issue was my main introduction to being someone who had something off with him or her. It didn’t spark any dietary or lifestyle changes (unless you count learning-how-to-cram-all-of-the-material-that-you-missed-because-you-were-in-emerg a lifestyle change). It was actually Sebastien’s history of allergies, asthma, and current issue with eczema that sparked my interest in looking how to properly feed someone with autoimmune issues. We poked around the ancestral health community, and found that Sebastien is at really high risk for being gluten intolerant or celiac, so we cut gluten from our diet. His skin and colour improved to an extent, and I accidently fixed my GERD/bloating issues. With gluten out of the way, it allowed me to easily identify other triggers for GERD/bloating, which turned out to be most beans (no more hummus!!). My hair got ridiculously thick and my body shape changed- it was a little freaky actually. We were pretty sold on the concept, and decided to commit to it.

So after being hum-dee-dum happy with my life, my most recent health issue has reared it’s head over the last year, and I’ll be damned to say that it has been the most difficult thing thus far in my barely-over-2-decades of life. Partially because it is not diagnosed (a major stress, one that I also faced before my first heart surgery when we still didn’t know exactly what was up) and partially because it isn’t clear how to go forward with treating it. It doesn’t help that it’s one of those things that isn’t always talked about. For now I’m calling it “what-might-be-endometriosis” or “maybe-endo” for short. It is a joyful bundle of 3 weeks of lower back pain, a crescendo of oh-I-can’t-walk-it’s-so-painful pelvic pain, and a few days of complete ‘n utter full-body debilitation a month. Throw a few completely-blurred-vision migraines in there for good measure. Add a dash of fatigue and muscle aching. So far it has been one of those “did that just happen? Was it really that painful, or was it all in my head?” experiences, because it creeped up on me slowly and unexpectedly. It’s still seems like I’m “faking it” to myself sometimes because it seems unreasonable that it would feel that bad for so long. I still am sorting out exactly what is happening to me on a monthly basis, and trying to figure out exactly what could be going on.

So that’s the adventure that I’m going through right now. Pain management is a big thing at the moment. Getting proper nourishment and moving as much as possible is a priority. Keeping the possibility of going part-time for school, and knowing that if I get overwhelmed I might need to just drop everything and skip out for a bit while I put my health as a priority. Figuring out how I can use the tools of diet and lifestyle to minimize my symptoms. Plus some watching Arrested Development (and Community, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Archer, Bob’s Burgers, Breaking Bad….you get good at TV when you can’t read from headaches!).

I feel like this is my second “coming out” post in two days, where I am upfront about currently experiencing (gasp) “female issues”. I’m sure lots of other women are where I am right now, but it’s just not something that you hear about or is always taken that seriously. You all must think I’ve forgotten how to cook and am just biding time by not giving you any recipes! That will come soon. For now, I’ve got to slightly overshare to the internet. You know how it is.

Dare I say it?

Dare I? Pegging yourself to a diet can be a dangerous choice. People jump on you and assume you subscribe to every dogmatic item that has ever been associated with it. They accuse you of lying and point out the psychos that every single food movement has attracted. It can be even riskier if you are trying to build a future career in the health industry, and it can be intimidating if you are a food lover who enjoys indulgences on every side of the good/bad fence.

Paleo, primal, ancestral, whole foods, traditional eating. Whatever you want to call it. I’ve been involved in the paleo/primal/ancestral health circle for over two years and I’ve never written about it. Never posted about it on facebook, never tweeted and hash tagged #NOMNOM (already making inside jokes, time to cool it!). Have hinted and suggested, been called out based on clues, but never come outright and said “hey folks, this is what’s up with me”. For simplicity, I usually call it “paleo”. For a more realistic portrait of what I eat on a daily basis, it would be better if I called it “ancestral”.

So what is this ancestral thing I’ve been doing for over two years? It’s part philosophy, for both diet and lifestyle, and part science. The biggest diet philosophy for me is eating whole foods. Whole foods, “unprocessed” in terms of no additives, no mystery ingredients, no taking this out and adding this back in. The lifestyle philosophy is the idea of trying to get back to our natural ways of moving and living– lots of walking, some heavy lifting, plenty of time on your feet, and plenty of time getting good sleep. Enjoying the finer things in life, letting the pesky things go, and bringing stress down to a manageable level. This lifestyle part is huge, and something that needs more of my (and a lot of other people’s) attention.

The science part is the aspect that I wrestle the most with. It starts off with these concepts that saturated fats and cholesterol are not the bad guys they were thought to be, moves along to trash industrial seed oil, and brings out the issues of not properly preparing grains for consumption using traditional methods. It twists your mind around the bend, and requires pulling out that biochem textbook you didn’t think you need any more. Any which way you like to approach the science, however, it mostly boils down to eating safe, whole foods properly prepared. Vegetables, fruits, meats, dairy (if tolerated), and some grains (in our case, only rice).

My favourite representation of what myself and other ancestral folk eat is done by Paul Jaminet (astrophysicist and economics researcher) and his wife Shou-Ching Shih Jaminet (molecular biologist and cancer researcher) because it is both graphical and well described below the image. If you are interested in learning more about ancestral eating, I would recommend looking at their website. For an anthropological (and economic/culterual) perspective on ancestral eating, I recommend Hunt Gather Love by the wonderful Melissa McEwan, who will also add to your never-ending list of books to read. Victoria Prince is a MD/PhD student in the clinical years of her degree, and writes a blog called Principle into Practice which is not only well written and engaging, but also has all the proper footnotes and loads of specific information for the science-minded and lay-people of the world. Another doc-related blogger is Primalmeded AKA Anastasia, who represents the Aussies and writes truly funny and interesting posts. A place where a lot of people start their primal journey is with Mark’s Daily Apple– Mark knows how to break things down for just about anybody and has very accessible information. For those of you who like to watch your info rather than read it, Dr. Terry Wahl’s Ted Talk’s video brought a lot of popularity to ancestral eating and provides a nice first-person account of their experience with ancestral eating (plus I think her son is the best). There’s another dietetics student blogging away named Laura who can be found at Ancestralize Me. Emily Deans (MD) looks at the link between ancestral diets and mental health in her intriguing blog Evolutionary Psychology. I could go on, but there is a nice variety of blogs you can check out if you are interested or want to burn some time.

This post is essentially me “coming out” as someone who eats ancestrally and is studying dietetics. I’m sure it hasn’t been some well-kept secret and most people had some idea, but I’ve always been a little ambiguous and never directly addressed it. I didn’t want to be one of “those people”, but at the same time I felt like I wasn’t being completely honest. No, I don’t hate vegans, I don’t think all the grains are out to kill you in your sleep, and sometimes it’s hard to hear all the questions over the sound of my ice cream machine churning out delicious full-fat dairy ice cream made with real, actual sugar. I make my own sauerkraut, drink kefir, brine my pork chops, do my steaks rare, make my corn tortillas, and eat dark chocolate every day. Over the next little bit I’ll explain why I specifically eat this way, why sometimes using a label on it is useful (but still sometimes detrimental), and maybe answer some questions along the way. As long as you like food, eat food, and are okay with me eating the food I like, we should get along just fine. For now, I’ll leave it at that and pick up the conversation at a later date. Enjoy the first few days of September and the big gear up for the school year to come!

The Next Chapter

No, not “The Next Chapter” the CBC show hosted by Shelagh Rogers, but “The Next Chapter” as in my blog is moving on and up! I’ve been hoping to move over to wordpress from blogspot to the while, and all it took was a weekend, a bottle of wine, and a few cups of coffee to get everything sorted out.

The old of yesteryear leads to today’s new opportunity.

In this new format, it’s going to be waaaay easier to find recipes from the archives. Click on “Food” and you’ll find my recipe index with handy links. The “Taste” section is going to be for non-recipe posts on anything- opinions, articles, books, podcasts etc. The “Technique” section will be for the stuff outside the recipes- planning, shopping, prepping, store, and using stuff up.

I look forward to doing more posts soon! Hope everyone is enjoying the last stretch of summer before fall starts to kick in.

Motto: Always be Roasting.

Seeing as it is both pi day (the mathematical equivalent of Christmas, in my opinion) AND registered dietitians day (who knew) I just had to do a post. It has been a long time since I have done one, and seeing as I have a whole lot of half finished drafts sitting on my computer, all it took was a little special occasion ambiance to kick it into gear.

One of the main reasons I have not been posting, is the commonly known, experienced, and discussed student burn out that just seems to accumulate throughout the year, and turn into a fiery descent into exhaustion that usually occurs between round one and round two of midterms. It is moments like this that call into question, as I have discussed before, my legitimacy in claiming my status as an adult. Because during this time period you find yourself thinking “Surely my parents and teachers and all the responsible citizens walking around don’t live like this”. By “this” I mean having TV marathons of Arrested Development because you have a headache from killing yourself studying, but which lead to staying up late and making said headache much worse in the long run. I mean doing laundry on a Sunday, and not putting it away until the Sunday afterwards. I mean forgetting that towels need to be washed, and instead wondering why they feel so rough and awful after showering. I mean fashioning a standing desk out of an old book shelf because you have convinced yourself that sitting and studying 12 hours a day is surely compressing your spine, and you will probably start shrinking in the next year or so. I mean googling at what point a human being will undergo “water toxicity” because you upped your tea intake to seven mega-cups a day, and you are not sure if you are damaging yourself. I mean going three days of eating eggs and rice for dinner, then suddenly deciding to make shallow-fried almond-flour-breaded cuttle fish with a homemade garlic, lemon, mayo sauce for Saturday breakfast. I mean arguing with strangers on the internet about electric potential when you are just trying to find the answer to a question worth less than 1% that you want to get right based on principle. I mean making the decision between staying up until 3am, then getting up at 6am, or going to bed at 1am, then getting up at 4am. When I daydreamed of being an adult, I don’t remember the part where you take a pair of your mom’s slippers home with you because the stuff on the floor gets stuck on your feet when you only sweep once a week and keep rodents for pets. I don’t recall a vision of scrap paper littering the floor and mad mathematical scrawling all over the sliding glass door, windows, and white board. The future of cheap-wine headaches and attempts of ambidexterity to curb writing cramps, was not really what I dreamed about.

In the midst of this relative disaster of calculus, physics, and sleeplessness, there are a few key cooking techniques that I grab a hold of to keep us well fed. One method is the “stovetop meal” which usually involved a steamer and a frying pan going at one time- steamer for the veggies, frying pan for sauteing whatever is going with the veggies. My favourite method, however, is the “put it in the oven and come back in a while” method. I use this for almost everything- cuts of meat, roasted root vegetables, baked squash, lightly baked fish, roasted broccoli, and most other foods. At the beginning of the week, it is particularly good to get all the roasting and baking of veggies and root veggies, because surprise surprise, it is much easier to snack on vegetables throughout the day, throw them in a breakfast scramble, and quickly reheat them for dinner. If you seem to spend as much time at your desk as I do, this is also fantastic because you put them on and can go right back to work without having to run over and check to see what could possibly be boiling over- you just leave it, come back in a bit, very easy.

To give you an idea of how much roasting and baking can add vegetables to your diet, I recorded how much veg Sebastien and I consume in one week. It’s a little ridiculous on paper, but it doesn’t even seem like we eat all the much. Okay, here it goes, 7 days for 2 people: 1 bag of carrots, 1/2 a bag of turnips, 1-2 sweet potatoes, 2 heads of broccoli, 1 head of cauliflower, 2 bundles of kale, 1 package of green beans, 1 butternut squash, 1 spaghetti squash, 1 bunch of lettuce, 2 zucchini, 2 bell peppers, 3 avocados, 1 bunch of spinach, and 1 package of mushrooms. So, if you ever have wanted to make a kind of crazy list and feel impressed by your ability to eat such an apparent volume of vegetables, apparently roasting is the way to get there.

Instead of giving out an exact recipe this time, I thought it would be useful to provide vegetable pairings. Things that go well with a certain kind of vegetable. This gives a little flexibility, plus the technique is pretty much the same in every case. Combine, place in dish, bake at 300F-400F until tender and delicious. If something has a lot of sugar in it, like fruit juice or honey, add close to the end of cooking to avoid burning. Otherwise, enjoy this lazy-(wo)man’s version of a recipe, and maybe it will give you a little inspiration for your next vegetable you want to throw in the oven!

Carrots:
fresh ginger OR cumin OR dill OR maple syrup, orange juice.
cilantro, lime.
tarragon, mustard.

Turnips:
thyme, butter.
potatoes, cream, roasted garlic.

Rutabagas:
green apples, maple syrup.
cheese, green apples, thyme.
lemon, garlic, thyme.

Sweet Potatoes/Yams
butter, nutmeg, brown sugar.
allspice, cinnamon, ginger.
apples and sage.
bacon, onions, rosemary.
kale, bacon.
chiles, lemon.

Onions
beer, cheese, nutmeg.
garlic, thyme.
balsamic vinegar, garlic.
bacon.

Leeks
bacon, cream.
mustard, chives.
white wine, garlic.

Fennel
honey, lemon, toasted almonds.
green apple, cheese.
lemon OR orange, mint.
lemon zest, chicken stock.

Beets
goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, walnuts.
mint, plain greek yogurt.
Orange, tarragon.
dill, sour cream.

Happy studies!

Lush Liquids

As New Years resolutions swirl in and out of existence, food blogs are a-buzz with “cleanses”, juicing, and liquid fasts. While I am not a fan of cleanses or juice fasts (probably an understatement), I am a fan of liquids. Like, a big fan. To illustrate, I will describe the liquids I consume in a typical day:

-1 cup of earl grey while I’m getting ready
-1 smoothie for breakfast
-1 to-go mug of green tea
-1 to-go mug of coffee
-1 pureed coconut-milk or chicken stock based soup for lunch
-1 cup of earl grey pre-workout around 4
-1 cup of water with dinner
-2 cups of herbal tea before bed

On top of all that, by the end of the day my beloved orange water bottle is usually empty. For me, hot liquids keep me sane during the winter. In the morning, our windows have a charming frost on them-the problem is, it’s on the inside of the window that lies just above our head, which apparently hits sub-zero temperatures while we snooze. Needless to say, I can do with a little warming up. After the brisk-enough-to-have-troubles-breathing walk to the bus stop, I snuggle against the aluminum siding of a bus, the ambient temperature of which hovers somewhere around 5 degrees first thing in the morning. To help me stay awake, I sip hot beverages throughout all my classes, except for when I switch it out for my freezing cold smoothie- the massive temperature difference is a shock-awake when you are struggling through a particularly muddle-some calculus lecture. The dry climate, which has allowed me the experience of truly frizzy hair for the first time in my life, also demands a constant stream of hydration.

One of the miracle-elixirs that I drink and spoon up by the bucketful during these cold months, is broth. Proper, stand-up-on-the-spoon, ultra-savory, homemade bone broth. I really can’t use the word “savory” enough when I describe homemade broth-it puts the two “mm”‘s in umami. Not only is bone broth really nutritious and flavourful, it is also very cheap and easy to make. It is a great “student food” because it is way cheaper than buying mineral supplements, makes a great base for a thermos lunch, and allows you to stretch out meager amounts of meat and veggie into a full meal. I also don’t salt my broth right when I make it, so you can use the broth to cook veggies, grains, or stir miso into. I find it easier to leave the broth unsalted, then salt according to the use- this makes it a highly versatile asset to every kitchen.

Broth you buy from the store is not even in the same food category as the homemade kind. The bouillon cubes and powder are basically a savory-flavoured salt, which is fine for stirring into dishes for flavour boosting, but it isn’t a nutritious or adequately flavoured base for a soup. The boxed stock is no where near as nutritious as homemade stock- for shortcuts, many use MSG to create a “meatier” flavour, and emulsifiers to thicken.

Homemade stock is a powerhouse of minerals and nutrients. If you are lactose intolerant or do not consume very much dairy, bone broth is an excellent way to supplement calcium in your diet, as it is very bioavailable in broth (in comparison to vegetables, where calcium generally has a low bio-availability). Magnesium, phosphorous, silicon, and other trace minerals are also in bone broth- it is like a flavourful mineral supplement. Gelatin is the component of homemade broth that makes it so thick and jelly-like. Gelatin has been used since the 1600’s in France to aid in digestion, which makes sense: gelatin “attracts” and holds liquids, including digestive juices, so it could potentially aid in the break down of other foods consumed around the same time period (for the science-ers, it’s a hydrophilic colloid). It sounds odd, but I actually like to drink a hot cup of broth on mornings when I don’t feel like eating and my stomach is upset- it makes a soothing substitute breakfast, and usually helps calm down my stomach. Also, bone broth contains collagen, which is what keeps your skin smooth (wrinkles and cellulite result from a lack of collagen). While there is not a verified mechanism that consumption of collagen could equal smoothed skin, here’s to trying!

Although I include recipe that is vaguely specific, making stock is more of a method than a precise science. Basically, you want to put bones in water and heat that water enough to extract the minerals, gelatin, and collagen to form a thick, savory, flavourful stock. For the bones themselves, I recommend starting a “bone bag” in your freezer-anytime you eat anything with bones, whether it be a whole chicken, a couple of drumsticks, turkey, or a leg of lamb, you can just throw the bones into the freezer. This way, especially if your household is only one or two people, you can build up a stockpile (get it?) until you have enough scraps. If you are really crazy, if you eat something with bones in a restaurant, you can ask them to wrap it up instead of throwing it away- this is probably exclusively a struggling university student practice I figure. I usually save up two chicken carcasses before bothering to make stock, but I have a large slow cooker, so if you have a smaller one you could put your stock on right after your roast chicken dinner. Alternatively, you can buy bones and carcasses from some stores and butchers, that are usually very reasonably priced. One of my favourite boney bits to buy from the store is chicken feet- while chicken feet are really odd to actually eat because there really isn’t anything on there but bones and skin, they have loads of gelatin in them. You can buy a large pack and freeze all of them, pulling out only 1 or 2 at a time for stock, and it’ll really help thicken and “rich-en” your stock. The famous “Jewish Penicillin” chicken broth was considered inferior if it wasn’t made with at least 2 chicken feet, so I’m not the only one who has found them useful!

While this recipe is written for chicken, you can use this word-for-word on turkey, duck, lamb, and rabbit bones. If you want to make a fish broth, the cooking time is much, much shorter- I would recommend using the stovetop method, but only cook the stock for 2 hours. You can use fish bones saved over time in your “bone bag”, or you can ask for fish heads from a seafood store-they are usually pretty reasonably priced and make an excellent broth. For a beef broth, because I don’t really buy cuts that have large bones in them, I usually buy beef marrow bones specifically for this (if you have an odd beef or pork bone from a T-bone steak or pork chop, I just throw those in with the chicken batch instead of waiting to save them up). Because you don’t previously cook beef marrow bones, I usually throw them in a hot oven (400 degrees F) in a shallow pan with onions and carrots, for about 45 minutes. This will help caramelize the bones and add a lot of richness to your stock. Another compliment to beef stock is a handful of dried mushrooms-this will really add flavour and “meatiness” to the stock! Having beef stock is a fabulous treat, because you can also reduce it to create a demi-glaze, which is delicious on everything from pot roast to brussel sprouts.

For storing the broth, you can keep the broth in the fridge for up to one week. To freeze the stock, I find that it is easier to use the stock if it is frozen in smaller portions. I use a silicon muffin tin to freeze my stock in 1/2 c portions- you have to be very careful putting it in the freezer (use a cookie tray or 2 pairs of hands to transfer it without spilling), but it is so easy to pop them out when they are frozen. If you have a traditional metal muffin tin, that also will do the trick. When it comes to getting the stock out after it is frozen, just allow the tray to sit at room temperature for a little bit until you can pop the frozen stock out. If you are in a rush, you can run the bottom of the muffin tin in cold water to slightly defrost the edges so they come loose. To freeze the stock in even smaller portions, if you like to put just a couple of spoonfuls of stock in for roasting vegetables or something, I use a silicon ice cube tray and freeze a few 1 Tbsp portions. Again, you could use a standard ice cube tray and be able to pop them out just like regular ice cubes.

Chicken Stock

Chicken bones and scraps (carcasses, necks, leg bones, wings, gizzards, feet etc.)
2 stalks of celery (or the ends + bases of celery that you would normally discard), washed thoroughly and roughly chopped
2 carrots (don’t bother peeling), washed thoroughly and roughly chopped
1 onion, cut in half and layers peeled apart
1 head of garlic, separated into cloves (optional)
1 Tbsp of spices (I use: star anise, cumin, and coriander) (optional)
1 lemon, washed and sliced (optional)
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (optional)
Water

1) Line the bottom of your slow cooker, or a large heavy-bottomed pot, with the onion layers. Add the lemon slices and spices if using. Place the carrots, celery, and garlic on top of the aromatic bottom. Nestle the chicken bones on top. If the bones aren’t fitting nicely, use kitchen shears or your hands to break the carcasses up, or pull apart other bones so they fit in with greater ease.
2) Fill the slow cooker or pot with enough water to submerge the bones. Try and have them covered by at least one inch- if there are odd bits sticking out, don’t worry too much, as the stock cooks the volume will reduce and it will be easier to push all the bones down as the connective tissue softens.

SLOW COOKER METHOD:
Put your slow cooker to the “low”, or just the lowest setting depending on what your slow cooker calls it (could be “1”). If there is a time option on your slow cooker, initially set it to 12 hours. At 12 hours you can taste your stock- it should be smooth (no grit) and very savory. If it is savory, but thin, I usually continue to cook my stock to 24 hours on the “warm” serving setting. If you wish to stop at 12 hours though, it will still be a delicious stock! You want to cook it long enough so that it is rich, but not so long that the bones start to dissolve, as it creates an unpleasant texture**. Skim off any “scum” that forms on the top.

STOVETOP/OVEN METHOD:
This method has a bit of flexibility. If you have a big, heavy bottomed pot you can place it on the stovetop at the lowest setting and leave it on for up to a maximum of 12 hours. Keep the lid on, and check every once in a while to make sure there is enough water. If you don’t have a heavy duty pot, just something on the light side, you will keep the heat more consistent if you make the stock in the oven at a low setting. 200-250 degrees F should do it- if you know your oven tends to “the hot side” or “the cold side” (many older models will be either hotter or cooler than what the temperature gauge says) ere on the upper or lower end of my suggestions- if you have a newer model, go for 225 degrees F. Place the pot in and cook for up to a maximum of 12 hours, checking occasionally to make sure there is enough water. Skim off any “scum” that forms on the top.

3) Skim off any unpleasant bits from the top. You can also try and spoon off any fat, but it is easier to remove the fat after refrigeration. Strain the stock by placing a colander above a large bowl (you can line with cheese clothe if you want to guarantee a smooth texture. Place in the fridge and store up to once week- freeze the leftovers.

4) Optional, but recommended: Pick over the bones and carcasses for meat. You can usually get a fair amount of meat off of the bones, and even if you are not planning to make a chicken soup or use it immediately, you can throw it into the freezer for a later date.
5) Discard the bones and vegetable bits. Enjoy your savory, delicious, nutrient packed stock! You can add salt to taste right after making the stock, or you can leave it unsalted for more versatility. Simply salt it as you put your broth to it’s many possible uses!

**If you cooked the stock really long and the temperature setting was too high, you might have a gritty texture. Do not despair! Try straining your stock through double-layered cheesecloth. Just line a sieve or colander with cheese cloth and pour the stock through (make sure it is well positioned over a bowl so you don’t splash). This should sort out the texture, and you’ll know for next time!

Happy New Years

Epiphanies can happen at any life stage. Sure, there’s the highly publicized and humorously presented mid-life crisis. The college dorm aha! moments that resulted in everything from a change in a major to a year long trip around the world. There are the ones that leave the lips after someone had the bright idea to throw a martini party. Some of the most heart warming and memorable moments, however, come from the wide eyes of children. Not only a goldmine for embarrassing photos of mullets and bowl cuts, childhood gives us some sticky lessons and first glimpses of reality.

One of my food epiphanies came to me in kindergarten. I was wearing a white sweater with a cat face on it and purple tights. We were sitting at our desks in those little-people plastic chairs with the little silver screws that always caught your hair when you went to get up. It was hot lunch day, which was a day no one remembered, seeing as kindergarteners keep attention like ice cubes keep heat. That was half the fun though- a seemingly random day where some parents would appear, out of the blue, with hot dogs! Weeks ago, you took the slip home to your parents, and they signed it and selected either 1 or 2 hot dogs. By the time you hit grade 6, pretty much everyone got 2 hot dogs, but in kindergarten that was a far-off dream.

That day, I was sitting beside a boy, who we will call Tom. He and I were musing about how when we get to grade 6, we will be able to order 2 hot dogs on hot lunch day. How awesome would that be? It’s double the hot dog goodness! Then, I realized something that made me almost drop my mustard-swathed hot dog in my purple lap. When you became an adult, you could eat ALL the hot dogs you wanted! You could literally choose to eat hot dogs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I quickly filled Tom in on this realization, and we spent the rest of the lunch hour gleefully working our way up to ordering 100 hot dogs on hot lunch day.

While the fondness for hot dogs wore off (especially when it came to my attention that the reason the hot dogs at home didn’t taste like the ones at school was because I had been unknowingly eating tofu dogs the whole time), the concept that one day I would be able to eat whatever I wanted, stuck with me throughout childhood. It boggled the mind that at some point in my life I would be able to eat whenever and whatever I liked. I couldn’t believe that my parents still ate all their vegetables on their plate, that they had cereal for breakfast instead of bacon and eggs, or that they didn’t eat pizza on days other than Friday. I would fantasize about living in my own apartment (which looked exactly like my room, but appeared to be carpeted entirely with stuffed animals) and eating a full turkey dinner for breakfast, followed by pizza for lunch, 2 butter tarts for snack, and then a massive bowl of seaweed salad for dinner (I went through a seaweed salad phase, I even asked for it for my birthday present).

I’m sure I wasn’t alone in fantasizing about the freedom I would have when I would finally be able to eat as an adult. Kids everywhere, at this moment, are dreaming of the day when they will finally be allowed to paint their bedroom walls with chocolate, or at the very least have pizza on a Tuesday and a Friday in the same week. When you are at the grocery store, pulling out your hair trying to fill your shopping cart with the new years resolutions you already announced to the family, think about the joy and the freedom that food provides. The luck that you have, growing up in a place where you can eat sweet, organic carrots, creamy greek yogurt, spicy thai curries, slow cooked pork, roasted fennel, and grass-fed beef. Eat food that makes you feel good, and enjoy the process of picking it out, smelling it, peeling it, cooking it, and finally eating it. If you “mess up” and pick food outside of your resolutions, you might as well enjoy it. Don’t beat yourself up about it- think about the smile on that 6 year old you’s face if they knew what they would one day be allowed to do.

This new years tribute really has nothing to do with hot dogs. I can’t remember the last time I ate a hot dog, and I won’t be upset if I don’t see a hot dog for some time. It’s not a commentary on the state of school hot lunch days, and there are no politics wrapped up in the bun I ate years ago. I hope that amongst the gym trips, journal entries, and organized chaos, you are able to find joy in the food that you eat. All the best for the new year.

-Jenny

Pumpkin Chili and Putting one foot in front of the other…

The term is coming to a close, and oh has the time gone by slowly/quickly/wonderfully/painfully. The clock seems to rotate so fast sometimes it feels like I will never be able to get on top of anything, whether it be homework, housework, or those nagging tasks that need to be completed within the month. Other times the tick is ominous, usually when my pockets are full of pencils and I’m standing outside the classroom waiting to right a midterm, humming to myself and rocking from heel to toe to ease my nerves (and look crazier).

This term has, thus far, been the most unique, challenging, but ultimately rewarding stint I have spent at university so far. My increased focus that has come with having a solid, long term goal has shown itself to be worthy, from the marks I’ve received to the sense of purpose I feel. Moving away from home has also given me a “fresh start”, which has been a great opportunity to live the way I have wanted to in the past two years, but never initiated. I am eating the way I want to, exercising more, getting way more sleep, and studying the way I know is most effective. That’s not to say it’s all been a sunshine-y picnic (more than one Mad Men marathons when I had too much work to do, teary midnight melt downs over the string theory of waves, multiple nights of over-indulgence, stomach aches from stress, and 1 1/2 empty jars of nutella), but overall it has included all of the good bits I conjured up in my mind when I thought of attending McGill in the first place.

One of the surprising highlights of my day is actually the commute. I know, sitting on an old school bus with my head getting blasted by cold air from the very poorly designed windows that do not seal, and my feet getting blasted by air so hot I have to cram my knees up on the seat in front of me to avoid first degree burns, does not sound like a very good highlight to have. However, between my brisk 15 minute walk to school, standing in line for the shuttle, and the 45 minutes of being shuttled, I have discovered the power of the podcast. Oh yes, the podcast. More specifically, the CBC radio podcasts. Now, this is not the first time I have listened to CBC, as I have in fact been a CBC junkie for approximately three years, and have woken up to CBC radio as my alarm every weekday since the 7th grade. At my last job, I would explain to all new employees that the CBC is played continuously, and hopefully they like it otherwise, well, that sucks. Now, I listen to The Vinyl Cafe, DNTO, White Coat Black Art, the Age of Persuasion, Wiretap, The Q, and many more on a regular basis. On my way to campus and back, I zip my collar up to cover my mouth, so as to muffle my sometimes startling reactions of laughter or sadness to passerby’s. I relay the best stories and podcasts to Sebastien over dinner, and we discuss similar stories that we had forgotten we had. These podcasts have been an unexpected enrichment in my life, providing a strong grounding experience that has allowed me to put myself in uncountable pairs of shoes.

Recently, I listened to a Definitely Not the Opera (DNTO) podcast about long walks, and how they can lead to life changes. It included the story of a Montreal man that started walking one day, and didn’t stop until he had circled the world 11 years later. This got me thinking about what walks have meant in my own life. When we lived in Victoria, Sebastien and I used to walk up Mt Tolmie from his house, and along Cadboro bay from my house. It was on these walks over the course of a semester that I proposed we move to Montreal, we discussed it, and eventually came to a decision that we would go to McGill. It was walking the West Coast Trail that solidified a group of friends that I know I will now always be able to call on. Walking on Cobble Hill Mountain with my family and friends are the memories that I associate most closely with my sense of what “home” is. Some of my most relaxing, poignant, and joyful times in my life are, somehow, all associated with the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other.

So it has been decided. There are three parks in a relatively close vicinity to our apartment, and it is my goal to got for a minimum of one lengthy walk per week, in addition to walking to and from campus. Yes, through the duration of the winter, no matter what. After those sure-to-be brisk walks, there’s nothing like a warm bowl of soup beside a cup of tea to initiate the thawing process. This recipe is a pumpkin-bean chili, easily modifiable to be vegetarian/vegan and grain-free. I like to do this in my slow-cooker, just because it is so convenient! If you don’t have a slow-cooker however, a large pot on low heat with the occasional stir will do the trick. The longer you cook the chili, the more developed the flavour, but it a pinch you could reduce the cooking time with any trouble. For the beans, I find that pinto beans take quite a long time to cook compared to navy beans and black beans, so I decided to use a can, for fear they would still be hard. You could substitute all the beans for canned varieties, but I believe I’ve mentioned (more than once, haha) how easy it is to cook beans! If you miss soaking them overnight, not a problem either, as long as they haven’t been sitting in your cupboard for 10 years they should cook up no problem. The recipe for the cornbread is coming up next, so hang in there!

Pumpkin Chili

1 onion, chopped
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 c black beans, soaked overnight
1/2 c white navy beans, soaked overnight
1 can of pinto beans, or 3/4 c cooked pinto beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder (or 1-2 tsp chipotle chili powder)
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 butternut squash cubed (can substitute acorn squash or omit)

1) Heat a pan on medium heat with a bit of oil. Add the onion, stirring until translucent. Add the beef, and turn heat down to medium-low. Fry until beef is cooked through.
2) Meanwhile, combine all other ingredients in your slow cooker or large pot. When the beef/onion mixture is done cooking, add to other ingredients.
3) For the slow cooker, choose the “low” setting for 8 hours or the “medium” setting for 5-6 hours. If you are using a pot, heating all the ingredient to a simmer, then reduce the stove to low heat. Allow to simmer very gently, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2-2 hours.
4) To test doneness, try biting into the beans- they should be soft, and not have any discernible “crunch”.
5) Add salt to taste. If you find the chili is a bit too thick for your taste, you can add a little bit of chicken stock to thin it out.
6) Serve with a wedge of cornbread, rice, or simply heaped in a bowl!

Banana Cream Cheese Muffins and Best Friends.

When asked what the most universal language is, I think most people would come up with “food”, “love”, or possibly “music”. For me, food is the language of festival, normalcy, and condolence. Every time anyone near and dear to my family loses someone, I am used to the immediate hustle and bustle of preparing casseroles and cookies to have in hand for the first visit. In this past year a few of my closest friends have had to experience losses, and those have highlighted the difficulty of offering support and condolence from a distance. Because it is usually impossible to turn the comforting thought of homemade food into words worthy of expression, at least for me, I thought I’d offer a recipe to two of my friends I have been close with since elementary and middle school, and who both experienced the loss of a family member in this past year.

Not many people are lucky enough to hang on to their high school friends. Maybe lucky isn’t the right word- plenty of people can’t wait to leave the awkward, transitional teenage years behind, including the people that were there to witness every folly. On the other hand, the people who saw you during that state know the rawest form of you- the half-baked, still experimenting, stumbling, eyes-closed version of you. They understood the wristband phase, and moved past it alongside you. They totally got the near heart attacks that academics inspired, where surely a poor grade would jeopardize your whole future. They broke the rules with you, stood with you, and felt the consequences with you. They remembered your birthday most of the time. They stayed in your car and talked for a long time before walking the 6 feet to their front door, even though they were just going to see you in the morning.

There is a group of girls- we literally still refer to each other as “the girls”- I am lucky enough to maintain a relationship with past high school. Our history goes way back, and includes crying, camping, concerts, comedy, and philosophical conundrums. It has been highlighted with fighting, fits, and feelings hurt. I wouldn’t trade any of our experiences for the world, including the most cringeworthy, the least sensitive, and the ultimately embarrassing.

I mentioned camping above- that we knew how to do. We continue to have sleepovers whenever the opportunity arises, even though our age no longer contains the suffix “teen”. We have spent many a night crammed into a too-small tent, going to sleep freezing and waking up steaming, and in my case, eyes swollen shut from allergies. We did the west coast trail together in grade 12, adding whole new dimension to our shared camping experiences, and contributing to the list of “the best things I’ve ever done” for each of us. When we camped in civilization however, we frequented a member of the group’s house who coincidentally had a mom that woke up super early and baked. Baked fresh muffins. Baked fresh muffins with cream cheese embedded in the centre. I can’t speak for the other members of the group, but whenever I see a recipe or illusion to the combination of cream cheese and muffins, I automatically think of the morning after sleepovers and those wonderfully fresh muffins.


I have, over the past few years, created many of my own muffin recipes. This is mostly attributed to the fact that I used to have a job that exclusively included baking muffins. Most of the muffins I make again and can’t stop thinking of are NOT I repeat NOT healthy granola-and-nuts muffins. Even my granola-and-nuts muffins lean hard to cakes and pastry. Sure, I have a few carrot, pumpkin, and squash puree based muffins…but honestly, you’re still eating a mini-cake that somehow slid into the breakfast category. And that, for special occasions, is a glorious thing.

This muffin features brown butter, a creation so simple and fantastic, I can’t believe I have yet to incorporate it into all of my baking endeavors. Not only for baking, I may possibly have maybe once served a filet of sole drenched in brown butter sauce to guests. We spent the meal talking about the health benefits of fish, so I thought I’d keep it on the down low what the sauce consisted of. Hey, they said it was the best fish they ever ate! No need to bring in the ingredients. Because brown butter is just butter. That is it. You put butter in a pot, you melt it down over low heat then let it start to foam and turn a beautiful hazel colour. It will smell very similar to hazelnuts and caramel (swoon). Little bits of milk solids in the butter will brown much faster than the liquid, but if you are baking and not concerned with the aesthetics of the sauce, these little crunchy bits add great flavour, so scrape them all out and use them!

This muffin, as I mentioned, also has the famous cream-cheese center. Maybe not that famous actually, unless you are an active member of “the girls” and a regular sleepover participant. It is a simple but splendid addition, just a little spoonful of cream cheese tucked into the batter before baking. It will change your whole experience with muffins, however. You will refer to all other muffins as “center-less muffins”, and may become so fanatical as to eventually move on to calling them “soul-less muffins”. Also, if it’s a Friday night and you’ve got a jones for baking…and you’re down half a bottle of wine since the beginning of the evening…equal parts cream cheese and nutella. Just saying. Combine the cream cheese with the nutella. You will be so glad you did.

Alright, without any further ado, here are the banana cream cheese muffins, dedicated to the girls and filled with wishes of condolences.

Banana Cream Cheese Muffins
As you can see, this muffin contains a lot of “optional”‘s. You can add any number of the optionals in any combination, depending on your pantry/fondness for your waistline. If you choose to add them all, feel free to insert the phrase “pimped-out” in front of the title above.

Wet:
1/3 c unsalted butter butter
3-4 bananas (old and spotty ones)
1 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp salt

Dry:
3/4 c all purpose flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardamom (optional)
1/4-1/2 c shredded coconut (optional)
2 Tbsp high quality cocoa powder (optional)
1/4 c pecans, chopped (optional)

Topping:
1 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp oats
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp shredded coconut
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream cheese for filling

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. First of all, the brown butter. Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, and cook it until the colour turns brown and it smells amazing. Make sure you keep an eye on it so it doesn’t go black (that will be unusable), but don’t worry if you think it’s a little on the dark side, it will taste amazing when baked.

2) When the butter has browned, pull it off the heat. Un-peel your overripe bananas and slice them into the butter mixture. It will sizzle and smell even more wonderful. The hot butter will soften the bananas making them easier to mash into little pieces, and the bananas will cool down the butter.

3) When the banana-butter mixture is cool enough that you can put your finger in it without wanting to remove it quickly, add the brown sugar, egg, and salt. Stir well.

4) In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add the wet ingredients. Gently fold to combine the wet and the dry, being careful not to over-mix. Once you think the batter is uniformly mixed, stop and mix no more!

5) In a small bowl, combine all the topping ingredients. You don’t have to use melted butter, I just gently work it into a crumb with my fingers.

6) Prepare your muffin tins with paper/silicon liners or grease. Spoon the batter evenly between 6 jumbo muffin cups or 12 medium muffin cups.

7) For the cream cheese: I find 1 tsp for medium muffins is the perfect amount, and about 2 tsp for jumbo muffins. I don’t worry too much about precise measurement though- I cut little pieces of cream cheese off the brick of cream cheese and roll them into balls, combining pieces until I get 1-2 tsp of cream cheese. I then gently press the cream cheese into the muffin, pushing the batter onto it so it is enveloped in the muffin. Repeat until all the muffins have cream cheese centers.

8) Cover the muffins with the topping. Place in the oven, and bake for 30-45 minutes depending on your muffin size and oven character. Check the muffins after 25 minutes by touching the top gently and quickly (no burnt fingers!) to see if its set. If it appears to have set, insert a clean butter knife into the edge (not the cream cheese center) of the muffin and see if it comes out clean. Continue to bake until a clean butter knife (read: not the one you used for the previous test that would now have batter on it) comes out clean.

9) Enjoy!