by Sam Tackeff | Apr 8, 2013 | Condiments, Pantry Staples, Quick and Easy
A few years ago, after working on Karen Solomon‘s book ‘Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It‘, I became a home made condiment convert. The secret about condiments is that they usually have no more than a handful of ingredients and come together in a television commercial break. Which doesn’t matter any more because of the miracle of the DVR – but believe me in high school and college, many foods were deemed suitable or not based on how much prep I could do during a two minute interlude while watching Buffy or ER.
I’m not saying that everyone should be making their own coconut milk or marshmallows (although, frankly both are doable and fairly easy). But nut butters, ketchups, and all sorts of sauces are my favorite things to cook, and turn out so much better than the packaged variety. And yet… I still am tempted to pick these things up and put them in my basket at the store – because those are the things you never want to run out of. To remedy this, I put together a little condiment calendar, of special things I wanted to try to make at home. My goal is to make a useful condiment in bulk at least once a month. For a while it was once a week, but I like making achievable goals and then outdoing myself.
So nut butters. From start to finish, no more than 10 minutes, and you have glorious, fresh nut butter, which you can flavor however you’d like.
Truthfully, it had been a while since my last nut butter batch. And then I joined a gym challenge where pre-packaged nut butters, nut milks, and any sort of additives were verboten. We were however allowed both nuts and coconut oil, and our kitchen – so this week I whipped up a batch of cashew butter with coconut and cinnamon. (I was tempted to make my own fresh coconut milk for curries, but I thought that would be pushing it with the rules and the spirit of things.) I’m actually better at portioning out nut butter than I am nuts – I know that 2 tablespoons of nutter butter is a serving and not to go over – but three and you are pushing that. Give me a handful of whole nuts, and I’ll go back for handful after handful, until I’ve eaten the entire bag.
So cashew butter. I like cashews because they are creamy and naturally sweet, and make a great unsweetened paste. You can make your own nut butter of any type – almonds, pecans, pistachios and hazelnuts all are great. You can use walnuts, although I find walnuts to be slightly bitter for my taste.
Usually I pick up these raw cashew pieces from Trader Joe’s. They are cheaper than the whole cashews, and come in a convenient 8 oz. package, which is more than enough for a batch for one person.
You usually need a little bit of fat to blend the nut butter – I like melted coconut oil because it gives it a hint of coconut taste, without tasting overtly coconut-ty. If I were making a savory nut butter (have you had one before? It’s interesting!), I might use olive oil. With cashews I like adding a little bit of vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. But you can also add cocoa powder, and make your own Nutella – if you want to get fancy, add a little bit of chile powder.
Another seasoning trick is to find a good recipe for spiced nuts – you know, the kind your grandmother used to serve with cocktails – and then just blend them into a nut butter.
For this batch I kept it simple.
Into my baby Cuisinart Mini-Prep (on sale at Amazon for 47% off) – this thing is a workhorse, and perfect for a small household. And you can dish wash!
Blend, blend, blend.
Homemade Cashew Butter
This nut butter is best made with raw cashews, which you can purchase at Trader Joe’s for an affordable price. I typically make a small amount – about a cups’ worth – primarily to avoid eating several cups worth of nut butter in a single week. The recipe is easily double-able, and I’d actually recommend doubling if you are using a larger food processor, as the small amount won’t blend as well.
8 oz. raw cashews (225 grams)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
In the bowl of a small food processor, place the cashews, cinnamon, vanilla and salt, and pour over the melted coconut oil. Pulse to get the mixture started, scraping down the sides with spatula. You want to get the nut butter going, and then grind for a minute or two at a time, until a smooth paste is formed. I usually do a minute on, scrape the sides, another minute, scrape, a third minute – you can do it for a few extra minutes if you want a very smooth paste, but I like mine a little bit chunky. It also helps to give your processor 30 seconds of rest if the motor is overworked.
You can store this in the fridge for a few weeks but it’ll firm up. I’m okay leaving it out on a cool countertop for a few days – which is as long as it’ll last in the house.
Makes about 1 1/4 cups.
by Sam Tackeff | Apr 6, 2013 | Lunch, Wellness
For most people, the weekend is a time for indulgence and excess, but for me, the weekend is about relaxation, rejuvenation, and making healthy choices. For the past few months, I’ve been settling into my work rhythm, trying to balance my new role and responsibilities with my passion for being active. I feel so lucky to be working for a fitness company that allows me to leave early once a week to head to the gym – as long as I’m getting my work done – but I do really miss my noon workouts from when I was working from home. So instead of sleeping in on weekends, I try to get in a double dose, heading in both Saturday and Sunday for what feels like adult recess.
This past five weeks, I’ve been competing in the CrossFit Open, pushing myself to the upper limit of my athletic ability. Week one we tackled dreaded burpees and snatches, week two had me pushing hard with the 75 pound shoulder to overheads, week three I got in more than a hundred wall balls at 20 pounds when I had previously been using an 8 pound ball in workouts. Week four was my absolute nemesis, fighting multiple days to get the *single* rep I needed to move on to round five. 95 pounds was 10 more than my PR for the clean and jerk, and my form (not the weight itself) was holding me back. It was a collective gym effort to get me to that rep – and after days of no success, Coach Steve helped me make magic happen and I got it done. This week was a deadly combo of thrusters and chest to bars. I’ve been able to muscle a handful of chest to bars this week, but couldn’t manage them after the first set of thrusters. But I’m getting there. And with each new PR, I feel stronger and more confident to keep pushing myself. Every single day I feel thankful for how far I’ve come, and for how it makes me feel as I set about conquering life.
Unlike my grandfather, who used to barter gym time for a donut and a cigarette – I like to reward myself for my workouts with a cup of black coffee, and a highly nutritious meal. (I do think that he’d have been amused and proud of my athletic achievements, given the turnaround from my sedentary teenage hood.)
I make sure I’m getting in lots of greenery – pounds of leafy greens, especially if I haven’t been the most attentive during the week. I’ll usually cook up a large bag of collards or what Trader Joe’s calls “power greens”, sometimes with a bit of bacon, or plain with a little bit of garlic, shallot, and cider vinegar, and use them as the base for the majority of my meals.
I’m particularly fond of making salmon salad (see above, with the heaping portion of broccoli raab and garlic), or opening up a tin of sardines, and making a dressing with the fish infused olive oil and some fresh lemon juice. The photo has them served over some steamed green cabbage, and sprinkled with some bourbon smoked paprika. I try to eat little fishes at least once a week, but sometimes I’m negligent. Really, you can’t go wrong with sardines.
On cloudy or cold days, I go with soup. This was a beef, tomato, and carrot soup I picked up from Formaggio Kitchen a few weeks ago, and savored it while simultaneously reading my Kindle, flicking through Twitter, and with my computer at arms reach. Some of my habits are less healthy than others.
And then, there’s my favorite lunch staple: the avocado. I went nearly three weeks without avocado last month, and it was a travesty. Here’s my new favorite – avocado halves with sherry vinegar, salt, and a sprinkle of black pepper. If you can find a nice ripe avocado, try eating it this way, you won’t be disappointed.
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 18, 2013 | Books, Breakfast, Restaurants
After the recent kerfuffle with horsemeat in IKEA meatballs, I thought I’d make an intro to my most recent read by mentioning that it included a lengthy section on a man supposedly selling dumplings made of human flesh. I’d much prefer the former. (The book was Mary Roach’s ‘Stiff’, a look into the history, culture, and oddity of the human cadaver.)
This book was my workday morning walk companion, an audiobook I downloaded from my library – did you know you can download free audiobooks with your library card? Well you can, and it’s genius. My new commute is a short drive downtown to a parking spot near Devon’s office in Fort Point – our ten minute morning date – followed by a half hour walk to my office in Haymarket.
Usually I’ll stop by Sportello to treat myself to a cup of coffee and two hard boiled eggs for my breakfast. Sportello also has delicious quiche for $3, and each morning they have a daily special to tempt me. On Wednesday they have donuts, Friday they have everything bagels – I broke down and ate one last week, the same day weakness caused me to forgo my black and plain morning brew for a cup of their peppermint mocha, which they made fresh with a massive dollop of homemade dark chocolate ganache. Ganache in my coffee. For breakfast. I felt bad for two seconds.
On this walk I walk over a bridge by the Tea Party Museum (historical, not political), where my ears are violated by the blaring fife and drum music over the PA system. I can choose to walk through downtown, or loop the long way on the waterfront, past the hotels, Quincy Market, and the North End. A few times I’ve had a cup of coffee at Flat Black instead – they have good Americanos (ie: flat blacks…). They also have three locations downtown, which makes it confusing if you are meeting a friend for coffee and don’t specify. They have these fun IKEA lamps too, that I’m always intrigued by, but too lazy to purchase and put together myself.
I love these morning walks because I can start the day with a clear head, and feel a sense of accomplishment before I even start my work.
#3. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Paperback, 304 Pages
Published by W. W. Norton & Company (May 2004)
(Listened to the audiobook.)
So about this book. Cadavers. A lot of snark. Accessible science. There’s something to be said about listening to bizarre science facts before heading into work – you always have something odd to entertain (or concern) your coworkers with.
When I was working in Coolidge Corner, I’d routinely walk an hour to work, listening to each of the archived RadioLab podcasts until I had caught up. Stiff felt at times like a RadioLab piece, although admittedly I wasn’t as smitten – after a while I felt like I had exhausted the topic, and yet at the same time not gone deep enough. That said, I’m looking forward to Roach’s newest book: ‘Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal’.
