dev0 – Concord Center Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine

Author: dev0

Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

Posted on by dev0

For those on a gluten free diet, finding good bread is an ongoing mission. The full line of overpriced and terrible prepackaged breads at the grocery store will turn any casual baker into a committed one. As I embarked on my journey into gluten free baking, I found it quite easy, forgiving and way yummier than store bought gluten free products. Having had to go gluten free for myself and dairy free when I was nursing my daughter, I came to realize that not being able to eat certain foods, not only leads to feeling better (when you abstain from those foods, of course), but also increases variety, creativity and enjoyment in cooking. Dietary limitations can inspire so much more nutritional diversity and creativity in the meal planning and cooking process when you approach it from a curious and healthful perspective. You find yourself discovering new recipes and new foods to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
 
The bread in this recipe is perfect for breakfast toast or sandwiches. When I started gluten free bread making I followed a lot of recipes that used dairy and eggs. I didn’t think my family needed to add any more dairy and eggs to our diet so in the interest of both health and frugalness, I set out to create gluten free bread with just good flour, water, yeast and a bit of salt and sugar. I confess that this recipe does use xanthan gum and guar gum as binders. This is what takes the place of the gluten in gluten free bread. Any other ingredients listed on your store bought gluten free bread is not needed. I have even heard that some people are making good gluten free bread without binders at all and I did try it a couple of times. It tasted great but it sunk during baking and didn’t hold together (definitely not sandwich bread). A binder free loaf will be the next bread recipe that I post, I promise! But for now there are only so many sunken loaves of bread that I can tolerate in a week. So until I’m feeling adventurous again, I’ll stick to this recipe.
 
The single most important thing you must understand about making gluten free bread is that the dough and the process is more like making a quick bread or cake batter. This is very important. If you’ve made regular bread before and are looking for that kneaded formed yet soft consistency you will end up with very dry bread. So trust me… the gluten free bread dough should be like a thick cake batter. No kneading, no multiple risings, not much like making a yeasted wheat bread at all. In fact it is really quick, easy and tasty. The key here is really in the amount of liquid that you use. Recipes for baking are not an exact science, especially when you use volume measurements and not weight. But even so, the age and dryness of the flour will determine EXACTLY how much liquid you need. It may take a few loaves to know you need to add a tablespoon or two of more liquid to the batter so the bread is not dry. Once you get the hang of this though you can make modifications to the recipes, such as adding cinnamon and raisins. But for now just follow the recipe and see what happens.
 
When I make this bread, I use a KitchenAid stand mixer with the standard beater attachment. If you plan to make gluten free baked goods regularly I cannot stress the importance of getting a stand mixer. It will be the most used appliance in your kitchen. The stand mixers allow for longer and more powerful mixing than you could do by hand or even with an electric hand mixer. This powerful mixing not only creates speed and ease in the process but also adds more air and loft to your batters and results in a lighter, better rising finished product. I would probably not even attempt this recipe without my trusty KitchenAid.
 
Part of what we’ve come to savor in gluten bread is well… the gluten! However, you will be surprised just how good gluten free bread can be, when you bake it at home. If you need to eat gluten free due to an allergy or intolerance you’ll find yourself wanting to hide a loaf of this bread in the freezer so that all those that don’t really “need” to eat gluten free will stop munching on your bread! Like all gluten free baked goods, this bread is best eaten fresh. If you don’t plan on eating two loaves in one day (and I hope you won’t) then just fully cool the bread, slice it, place it in a ziploc bag and freeze it immediately. Then you can remove slices as needed, pop them in your toaster and viola–fresh gluten free bread.
 
Let me know how your bread turns out by leaving a comment below. If you have any questions, I promise to answer them. Good luck and enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 cups millet flour

1 cup sorghum flour


1/2 cup white rice flour

1 1/2 cup potato starch
1 cup tapioca flour

2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp guar gum

1 Tbsp salt

4 tsp olive oil


4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast 

1/8 cup sugar

3 3/8 cup warm water (not hot)
 
Instructions:
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

  1. Add the first 8 ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix on low speed in a stand mixer (with the standard beater attachment) until the ingredients are uniform.
  2. In a 4 quart sauce pan add the water and gently warm on the stove top until the water is about the temperate of you skin or slightly warmer (90-100 F). Add the sugar and stir or whisk to dissolve. Then add dry yeast and stir until all the yeast is dispersed in the water. Allow the yeast sugar mixture to sit until the yeast begins growing. This is call proofing the yeast. The water will get really cloudy and you may even see the yeast just “explode” in the water.
  3. While you wait for the yeast to proof, butter two 9-inch bread pans. You can use coconut oil if you are dairy free, but butter makes for the easiest removal of the bread from the bread pans once it’s done.
  4. When the yeast is proofed, add the yeasty sugar water to the dry ingredients and mix on high speed for 5 minutes. Divide the batter evenly into each buttered loaf pan, cover loosely by creating a dome of aluminum foil over each pan and allow the batter to rise until is reaches just below the edge of the loaf pans. This could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes or more depending on your climate and the temperature of your kitchen. The warmer the temperature the faster the bread will rise. So for example, if it is by your preheating oven, in say the summer time, its best to keep a close eye on this process. If the bread rises too much it will collapse either during the rising process or while it is baking in the oven. If the former happens, you can just remove the batter from the pans, remixed and re-add to clean buttered loaf pans. If it happens while baking there is nothing that can be done–just continue baking and enjoy the yummy but not so pretty and not so well held together result.
  5. Once the bread has risen, remove the aluminum foil, place pans on a center rack in pre-heated oven and bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Then cover again with the aluminum foil and bake for another 30 minutes.
  6. Remove from the oven and remove the bread loaves from their pans and allow to cool on cooling racks.
  7. Slice and enjoy fresh! Freeze any left over slices so that you can just remove individual slices from the freezer and toast as needed. Aside from fresh out of the oven, freezing and then toasting is the best way to store and eat gluten free bread. Let me know how yours turns out!

Are Your Salads and Smoothies Sabotaging Your Weight Loss?

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You wake up and throw together your usual morning power smoothie—kale, chia seeds, frozen berries, banana, almond milk, protein powder and some ice cubes. You head to the gym, jump on your bike or head outdoors for a run or walk. You shower and head to work with your lunch salad in hand. You’re trying hard to drop the excess weight so you have another salad for dinner when you get home. You’re counting calories, you’re exercising, you’ve eliminated all junk food from your house, you are passing over those donuts that George brings into the office every Friday, but you are still not losing weight. Does this story sound familiar?

Believe it or not, your salads and your smoothies may actually be the problem. Provided you are getting enough calories so that your body isn’t starving and hoarding that coveted adipose tissue as an energy reserve to get you through this year’s “Bathing Suit Famine” and provided that you are actually at a slight calorie deficit which allows you to burn excess fat and lose weight, then what you eat could be as much a factor as how much you eat.

The internet is abound these days with enticing looking smoothies, picturesque raw food entrées and testimonials about how great everyone feels eating these colorful works of culinary art—but they only great if you live in Southern California. For those of us that just endured a brutal cold and snowy 5-6 month winter, this sort of raw food diet is, well…for the birds…the ones that migrate south, anyways. Here’s why.

Think of your digestive system like an old-fashion cauldron of soup over a fire. Your stomach is the “cauldron” that holds the food you eat and your metabolism provides the “fire” for cooking this food into a stew. The cooking process itself is akin to your digestion in this metaphor. Your digestive system or the cooking process is responsible for turning everything you put into the cauldron into a 100 degree Fahrenheit pureed soup (without an actual stove and without a blender, mind you).

Now what would happen if you poured a whole bunch of cold smoothie, raw salad, a few ice cubes and an occasional ice cream into this pot of soup? Your body would need to work really really hard to bring the soup back up to temperature and get it cooking again, right? It would SLOW DOWN the cooking process, which means it SLOWS DOWN your digestion and taxes your metabolism.

So this is exactly what happens in our stomach when you drink iced beverages and eat lots of raw foods—your digestive system becomes overburdened and its ability to cook or digest your food is compromised. As a result you overwhelm your body’s ability to efficiently digest the nutrition in your food and you are left with a sloppy mess: diarrhea, loose stool, possibly even constipation, malnutrition and a sluggish metabolism.

So now what? Now you need to get to some creative thinking and meal planning. For smoothies try cooking them. They are really quite good this way. Throw your bananas and berries in a pot with some water and bring it all to a simmer until the fruit is soft and cooked. Add in the greens at the last minute so that they stay bright green and don’t over cook. Make sure you cool it all down to room temperate then add in any power supplements like protein powders, chia seeds, nut or moo milk and then blend. If you are up for it ditch the smoothies some mornings and throw together an egg and vegetable scramble instead. For salads try steaming or baking your favorite vegetables such as green beans, pea pods, zucchini, kale, spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes and broccoli and serve with your favorite dressing. Ditch the salads some of times too and go with soups and stews instead. There are plenty of soups for all months of the year that celebrate the season and taste good. Just Google “summer soup” and see what recipes pop up and inspire you.

Now this doesn’t mean that you can’t ever eat salad or a raw piece of fruit ever again. As the summer weather gets hotter, this is usually a great time to add some raw foods such as fruit, salads, juices or smoothies to your diet, especially if you are hitting the farmers markets or harvesting right from your own garden—just don’t overdo it. You already know that too much of a good thing is not necessarily good for you. The same applies here. It’s important to remember that cooked foods are easier to digest than raw foods. Cold smoothies and salads on a daily basis, or three times a day for that matter, are just too much for most people.

There is not one right diet for everyone, so listen to your body and observe its progress and response to what you put into it. If you are not losing weight and are struggling with digestive problems then the fuel you are putting into your body may not be optimal for you.

So go ahead and try decreasing the amount of raw and cold foods and increasing cooked foods in your diet. If you feel you need extra help losing weight, call our office to get started with a customized nutrition plan, acupuncture or herbal program to help reduce stress, balance hormones, curb cravings, boost your metabolism and resolve any pain or injury that is holding you back from a healthy exercise regimen.

Ginger Scallion Tea for Colds

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This is an excellent and effective remedy for very early stage colds with sneezing, chills or body aches. If you usually feel a winter cold coming on before if fully hits you, then this easy to make tea is a must have in your home remedy collection.

How do you know your catching a cold? Maybe you just don’t feel yourself. Maybe you just can’t get warm or your neck and shoulders are suddenly a bit stiff or achey. Maybe you started sneezing a bit and feel a bit “under the weather.” These symptoms are often the start of a cold.

“The wind is the origin of one hundred diseases,” it is said in Chinese Medicine. The sort of cold I described above is typically seen in windy and cold weather and is called Wind Cold. It is one of the “one hundred diseases” caused by wind. To prevent catching this sort of cold it is best to dress warm and protect yourself from cold wind by wearing a hat and scarf. It is also important to keep your qi or your immune system strong by heeding the “6 Ways to Stay Healthy This Winter,” so that your body can properly fight off the illness.

Wind Cold can turn into Wind Heat once inside of some folks’ bodies. Wind Heat can also be caught directly and is more prevalent in the warmer seasons. Symptoms of Wind Heat include sore throat, fever, yellow or green nasal congestion, strong thirst and a hacking cough either with or without phlegm. If you’ve got Wind Heat then this tea is NOT for you. In this case it best to come on into the clinic for acupuncture and an herbal consult and we can send you home with the appropriate herbal remedy.

If you do end up catching a true cold then you can make this quick and easy tea to help drive that Wind Cold right out of you. Sip this tea hot. Wrap yourself up in hat, scarf and blanket to keep warm and break a slight sweat. Don’t forget to rest, too. You should be feeling better shortly.

Ingredients

1 cup water
3 slices fresh ginger
1/4 -1/2 of a scallion (sliced)

Instructions

  1. Put water into a small stainless steel or enamel pot and bring it to a boil.
  2. Add the ginger and scallion and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes only (no longer!)
  3. Strain and drink the tea.
  4. Don’t forget to dress warmly or wrap yourself in a blanket so that your body sweats a little.

Chicken Bone Broth

Posted on by dev0

Making and drinking homemade chicken broth or bone broth is one the most common suggestions I give to patients. Either sipping a hot cup of homemade bone broth or eating it in a soup, gravy or stir-fry is one of the best things you can do to improve and maintain your health on a daily basis. In fact homemade broth is a nutritional and culinary staple in Chinese cooking (and in many other cultures for that matter). However our fast paced culture of processed convenience foods has replaced this age old tradition of turning meat and bones into healthful and flavorful stocks with prepackaged broths and bullions that are devoid of nutrition and flavor and often packed with sodium and other additives.

When I suggest making and drinking homemade broth on a daily basis, my patients always ask if an organic prepackaged broth can be substituted. The answer is—“If you are looking to improve your health, then there is no substitute for homemade broth.” Homemade broth is very easy to digest and packed full of minerals, collagen and amino acids. From the perspective of Chinese herbal medicine we say that bone broth strengthens the Kidneys. It is the abundance of this healthy Kidney energy which slows aging and allows for healthy bones, fertility, urinary function, hormonal balance, low back, knees, hair, nails and teeth. Homemade bone broth is a must if you suffer from fatigue, low libido, chronic low back pain, osteoporosis, arthritis, infertility, tooth decay, hair loss, menopausal symptoms, frequent colds, allergies or if you would like to slow the aging process or prevent any of these diseases.

Many of my patients love the flavor of our Immune Boosting Chicken Broth, which is a lovely primary broth with immune enhancing effects. But you may be looking to make a simpler and more frugal broth. You may also be looking for a broth that is rich in nutrients and collagen for treating the Kidney related health problems discussed above. In both these cases, this recipe is the definitely the answer. Not only is this broth easy to make but it also uses the bones from roasted chickens carcasses, making it a very frugal addition to your meal plan. As always, I suggest using pasture raised or organic chicken. You can get fancy and add onions and veggies to this recipe, but I really like this simple version too. I do, however, often save my collard and kales stems in a freezer bag and when I get a big handful worth I add them to the cooking broth for extra calcium. There are a few other optional ingredients in the recipe that help boost collagen and nutrients in the broth. If you can add those in, that’s great, but be sure to keep this as simple as needed so that you actually make (and drink) some form of this broth regularly.

Trust me—this is EASY. Here’s how you do it.

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken carcasses from roasted chickens (After roasting and eating a chicken I throw the carcass in a freezer bag and freeze it until I get two of them) OR 1 chicken carcass plus 1 lb. of uncooked chicken wings.
  • 4.5 quarts of water
  • OPTIONAL: 2 chicken feet or necks OR 1 pig foot (together with a low cook temperature this helps create a high collagen broth)
  • OPTIONAL: 2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar (the vinegar helps extract more of the nutrients from the bones but I often leave it out as my family prefers the less “boney” taste of the broth made without the vinegar)

Instructions

  1. Combine chicken carcasses and optional feet or necks together with water in a large enamel or stainless steel stockpot or a 6 to 7 quart slow cooker.
  2. Add apple cider vinegar, if you are using it.
  3. If you are cooking on the stove, partially cover the pot and bring the stock to barely a simmer on low heat for at least 4-6 hours. In order to preserve the collagen in the broth you want to make sure you cook this at a low temperature. It should barely be simmering.
  4. If you are using a slow cooker just set the slow cooker to low and you can let it go all day or overnight.
  5. If you have any impurities rising to the top of the broth, aka weird foamy or scummy stuff, just skim this off with a large spoon or skimmer and discard.
  6. Remove the broth from the heat and strain. Use right away or let cool and pour into containers and freeze.

(If you don’t have a slow cooker already, we LOVE our Cuisinart 6.5 quart slow cooker. It holds a nice temperature and has a replaceable ceramic insert that can be purchased separately if yours happens to break—this is a surprisingly hard to find feature. It makes this recipe so easy. We often  just leave the slow cooker going and use the broth right out of the slow cooker, adding more water to replace what we used. You can do this until the bones are soft or the broth is no longer rich and flavorful. At that point you would just discard and remake with new ingredients.)