Kymberly's All-Natural Apple Pie

Kymberly requested this recipe, so I am dedicating it to her. Enjoy, Kymberly, and save me a piece!

For one 10-inch pie, you will need:

5 apples, more or less, depending on their size; core and slice thin but don't peel. Use good pie apples such as Gravensteins or Jonagolds.

1 tablespoon apple pie spices; choose from cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, or mixture of these.

2 tablespoons cold butter; chop in small pieces.

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1 apple; peel, core, and chop, and steam with 1 tablespoon water until soft. Chill in the freezer until needed.

1-3/4 cup whole wheat flour. Stone-ground will give this pie a delightful nutty flavor and texture, but the crust will be somewhat crumbly. Use whole wheat pastry flour for part of the flour for a softer, less crumbly dough.

1 stick (1/2 cup) real butter, very cold; chop quickly into small pieces.

1/2 cup walnuts, pecans, or hickory nuts; chop or grind till fine.

1/2 teaspoon salt or mineral salt.

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First make the crust: Mix the flour(s), nuts, and salt, then blend in the butter with your fingers until it makes a uniform crumb. Add the cold cooked apple one tablespoon at a time, stirring it in lightly, until the mixture just holds together. Collect it into a ball, cut into 3 equal pieces, place two in a pie plate, and press them into the plate and over the rim. Place the remaining piece of dough in the refrigerator.

Then make the filling: Layer half the apple slices into the pie plate, sprinkle with chunks of butter, and then half the spices; add the other half the apple slices, the remaining butter, and the remaining spices. Then dribble the remaining cold cooked apple over the top.

Finally, finish the pie: Press the remaining piece of dough on a lightly buttered dinner plate, and press it so it will fit over the apples, including the rim of the pie plate, then cut 3 1-inch slits near the center. Loosen the dough from the plate, then tip it over apples. Press along the rim with a fork or with your fingers.

Place a cookie sheet on a lower rack to catch spills. Place the pie on a high rack in an oven preheated to 400 degrees. After 20 minutes, check the crust for darkening, and if necessary cover the pie lightly with foil. Continue to cook for a total of about 40 minutes. Steam should be escaping from the slits when you remove it from the oven.

Set it aside to cool completely, or serve warm. Serve with fresh cream, ice cream, or a room-temperature sharp cheddar cheese slice.

If you want the pie to be sweeter, sprinkle the crust with several tablespoons of sugar when it comes out of the oven.

Glorious Italian Harvest Soup

I found this soup online at one of my favorite sites. If you like food, you will want to subscribe to this wonderful 'kitchen', full of aromatic surprises. You can even leave your feedback - which in this setting means comments you make after you feed yourself with these delightful concoctions! To subscribe, go to http://101cookbooks.com.

This soup is from southern Italy, not a well-traveled place. It is full of harvest veggies, and flexible enough to make use of whatever you have in your local area. It is also a SHOCKING soup: it uses 2 cups of olive oil. But don't worry: first, olive oil is healthy, and second, you don't consume it all. After you're done cooking this soup, you will have plenty of flavored olive oil to use in other dishes.

Here's the link: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/summer-vegetable-cianfotta-recipe.html. Or you can get to it from the 101cookbooks.com site.

I'm trying this tonight. I even have squash buds still in my garden. I will have to go to the store for a nice fennel root - too bad because I passed one up at the Anacortes Farmer's Market last Saturday. Oh yeah - I'll have to buy tomatoes too because all the ones in our garden are still green: tomatoes aren't designed for a maritime climate with daytime highs in the 60s!

Leave a comment here if you try it!

Fudgy Beany Brownies, No Flour,

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/amazing-black-bean-brownies-recipe.html

Yes, they have black beans in them. This article explains the whole thing, with enthusiasm. When you try it, write a review and post it here... PL

Gluten Sensitivity Article Link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten_sensitivity#Asthma.2C_Anaphylaxis.2C_Nasal_Allergies

There are a lot of interesting insights in this article, and a lot of immunology that I don't understand. Several links from it are also of interest.

Here is one tidbit that might have broader appeal: the reason gliadin (another article worth reading at Wikipedia) formed in conjunction with the 'new wheat' that was easy to pick and store was to dissuade mammalian predators of it. In other words, it was an active defense mechanism that increased survivability.

To appreciate what this might mean, I recommend this article:

http://truewilderness.blogspot.com/2008/02/evolution-of-toxicity.html.

It turns out that early-onset and late-onset gluten sensitivies are different...

Even though the gluten article is highly technical, it's got a lot of interesting facts, too - I recommend it. Maybe someday I'll distill it....

Some Moms Talking About Their GS Kids

GS = Gluten-Sensitive

http://www.glutenfreeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=41344

It's a forum, brief, interesting, and possibly irrelevant - you decide!

Slow Food Quote and Link

"It is normal, and it is right, for people to grow and produce food near where they live; near where they eat. Historically, vegetables, eggs, meat, and fruit have always been grown pretty much anywhere that there were people. It's only recently that we've allowed our food production to become distant, centralized, and impersonal."

So says Carol Havens, Slow Food Skagit River Salish Sea, http://slowfoodskagit.org.

Learning Food Independence

If words like "sustainable", "local", "organic", "fresh", "home-grown" touch you, you will enjoy (I think) reading through this calendar on the offerings for growing and eating local food in WA and OR.

http://www.tilthproducers.org/calendar.htm

It includes all sorts of events, including instruction in growing 'city goats', kiwis, ducks, bees... The main site also includes garden walks and much more. Very exciting...

Great News For WA Kids!

March 11, 2008 - Olympia, WA - "Today the state legislature passed theLocal Farms - Healthy Kids bill (SSB 6483). Votes were very much bi-partisan and essentially unanimous in both the House and Senate. A keybenefit of this legislation will make it easier for schools to buy locally grown food - providing markets for local farmers and nutritious, fresh local food for our children. As a package, this bill will become the most comprehensive local foods program in the nation."

YAY!

Supporting the farmers is good, feeding the kids fresh food is good, not driving food halfway across the country is good...

What about elsewhere? Post it here so we can keep track. PL

Why Are So Many People Gluten-Sensitive?

http://www.celiac.com/articles/76/1/Why-So-Many-Intolerant-To-Gluten----by-Luigi-Greco-DCH-MScMCH-MD-Department-of-Pediatrics-University-of-Naples-06301995/Page1.html

This is fascinating! It talks about populations that can tolerate wheat, and others, like the Irish, who can't, and why. This makes the whole GS issue make so much sense!

JFK and Celiac?

http://www.celiac.com/articles/624/1/Was-JFK-the-Victim-of-an-Undiagnosed-Disease-Common-to-the-Irish/Page1.html

Remarkable History of Gluten Problems

Here's a great article from http://celiac.com on why gluten problems are so prevalent. Fascinating!

http://www.celiac.com/articles/76/1/Why-So-Many-Intolerant-To-Gluten----by-Luigi-Greco-DCH-MScMCH-MD-Department-of-Pediatrics-University-of-Naples-06301995/Page1.html

And one conclusion of the many is that those of us with this condition are related in a very interesting way! Wait till you read it...

The Many Issues Around Oats

I love oats, and miss them. I tried one batch of oats after I was gluten-free and got an inflammatory response not like a gluten reaction, but still inflammatory, so no good... But I haven't done a big study of oats to understand all the issues.

This article will help anyone wanting good solid RECENT information on the oat issue for celiacs and those with other types of gluten-intolerance:

http://www.celiac.com/articles/21520/1/Effects-of-Various-Kinds-of-Oats-on-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html.

As this article points out, the biggest issue is contamination, but it's not the only issue.... PL