Just Bananas

Ice cream used to be my true love. We spent many long, summer nights together, sat through sappy movies, consoled girlfriends over broken hearts. Our breakup was difficult: I could no longer tolerate his sweetness, or cow-dairy origin and quite frankly, he made me sick.
Yes, it’s been a rough few years, but recently I met someone new that is just as satisfying, creamy and sweet as his dairy counterpart, except that he is actually good for me! Too good to be true? Well, let me introduce you to my new soul mate: the modest and down-to-earth banana.

This past winter, steeped in perpetual boredom, I took a couple frozen bananas out of the freezer to bake a loaf of banana bread. While they were thawing, I became impatient and decided to speed up the process by mixing them up with a hand blender. Lo and behold, this simple process yielded a fluffy, creamy dessert that almost brought me to tears: I never thought I could replace my beloved ice cream, but I did.

This is truly the easiest (and cheapest) dessert to make, especially for a crowd. You can buy a bunch of bananas well in advance and freeze them once they become very ripe, or you can buy them on sale towards the end of their little lives. You can blend in some honey, maple syrup, agave nectar for added sweetness (although it really doesn’t need any if the bananas are really ripe), or add your favorite toppings.

Directions:
1. Get a hold of some ripe bananas
2. Peel bananas and break into small pieces (about 4 or 5 per banana)
3. Put banana pieces into a container and freeze
4. Take bananas out of freezer and let thaw slightly
5. Using a hand blender (unfortunately this does not work in a counter top blender) pulse through banana chunks until a smooth, creamy consistency is reached. It will look almost white, like real ice cream.
6. Serve immediately.

Tip: Once blended, this can be frozen again for serving later, but ice crystals tend to form very quickly as there are no additives to prevent this from happening. Giving the mixture a quick blend again right before serving will ensure the creamiest texture.

Ideas for toppings:
Shredded coconut (pictured above)
Organic chocolate chips
Maple syrup or agave nectar
Chopped almonds or cashews
Orange zest
Banana chips

Ice cream is a food jammed-packed with ingredients on my personal hit list:
cow dairy (see previous post), white sugar, saturated fat, food colouring, artificial flavors, stabilizers, emulsifiers, alginates, viscosity-producing gums and hydrocolloids (huh? Exactly.) Why not avoid a couple servings of that garbage this summer and introduce your new, true love to your friends and family. Maybe you’ll even have them saying: “We scream for NO cream!”

Goat is the New Cow

Goat diary is a gift from God. I gave up cow’s milk and everything made with it about 3 years ago, and renouncing the mucus-forming, antibiotic-laden, digestion-clogging gook was easy with a little help from a righteous goat.
Without throwing too many cheap shots at the poor, holy cow, I want to explain the basic differences between cow and goat dairy to illustrate why making the switch is an excellent idea for you and your family.

Goat Milk is Easier to Digest than Cow Milk
Our bodies were designed to consume human milk, a perfect food for growing babies. We are born with the ability to digest our mother’s milk, but many people become lactose-intolerant as teens or adults, when our bodies stop producing the enzymes necessary to digest any kind of milk.
Goat milk has smaller protein molecules than cow milk, the most similar to the protein found in human milk. In addition, the fat molecules in goat milk have thinner, more fragile membranes - half the size of those in cow milk. This leads to an average curd tension that is literally 1⁄2 that of cow milk (36 grams for goat milk and 70 grams for cow milk). Curds from milk form in the digestive tract or during cheese or yogurt making (anywhere that the milk is subjected to acid). Having less curd tension means that the milk is less "tough", and easier to digest. Dr. Bernard Jensen (my personal hero) showed that goat milk will digest in a baby's stomach in 20 minutes, whereas pasteurized cow milk takes 8 hours. The difference is in the structure of the milk.

Goat Milk is Nutritious
Compared to cow dairy, goat dairy contains more calcium, phosphorous, vitamin A, riboflavin, thiamine, selemium and less cholesterol!

Goat Milk is non-Allergenic
Goat milk does not contain the complex of proteins that are the main stimulants of allergic reactions to cow dairy products. Therefore, it does not stress/depress the immune system. Seven percent (7%) of U.S. children show symptoms of cow-milk allergy such as wheezing, congestion, frequent ear infections, eczema, skin rashes and digestive troubles. In the vast majority of cases, these problems are often eliminated when goat milk is substituted for cow's milk.

Goat Milk as a Substitute for Those Who Are Lactose Intolerant
Goat milk and goat milk products can be tolerated by most of those who are lactose intolerant. Because unpasteurized goat milk is digested very rapidly, lactose (the main sugar found in milk), does not remain for long periods of time in the intestines, where it can ferment or cause an osmotic imbalance, followed by digestive upset. Additionally, goat milk contains 7% less lactose than cow milk.

Goat Milk is an “Alkalinizer” of the System
Goat milk is a rare dairy food in that it has an alkaline ash. This means that it does not produce acid in the intestinal system. Acidic blood and intestinal pH levels have been associated by researchers with fatigue, headaches, muscle aches and pains, sore pressure points, excess weight, blood sugar imbalances, and excessive yeast populations. Goat milk helps to increase the pH of the blood stream because it is the highest dairy product in the amino acid L-glutamine, an alkalinizing amino acid.

Goat Milk Contains Twice the Healthful Medium Chain Fatty Acids
In comparison to cow milk, goat milk contains twice the content of medium chain fatty acids, such as capric and caprylic acids. These fatty acids are highly antimicrobial. Capric and caprylic acids are used today in dietary supplements to inhibit the growth of Candida albicans and other yeast species. They also boost the immune system and enhance energy.


While in the North America, we may think of goat's milk as a beverage alternative to cow's milk, in most areas of the world, the opposite is true. Worldwide, more people drink goat's milk than cow's milk.

Most people assume goat's milk will have the same strong musky taste for which goat cheese is famous. Yet, in fact, good quality goat's milk has a delicious slightly sweet, and sometimes also slightly salty, taste.

The same goes for it’s fermented friend, yogurt. This is my favorite easy-to-digest indulgence in the morning: a frozen banana, handful of wild blueberries and about a ½ cup of goat’s yogurt. Blend it until smooth and I’ve got a fully loaded breakfast that’s great on the go. I just pour it into a mason jar and make everyone on the subway jealous! This also a delicious dessert.

Goat cheese comes in many forms too. We are all familiar with the soft, spreadable type, but goat cheddar, mozzarella, and feta are also available. I love to put a couple slices of goat cheddar on crusty, whole-grain bread with some jam (the best is my friend Kaitlin’s organic peach and ginger jam that she bestows upon me after the summer harvest. She’s such a lovely girl). This satisfies my craving for a salty-sweet snack, while supplying me with fiber, protein and calcium!

Here’s a simple recipe for a Waldorf salad (pictured above) that is far superior made with goat yogurt. This with a side of quinoa and you’ve got a lunch that really satisfies…

Waldorf Salad with Goat Yogurt
Ingredients
1 large apple
2 stalks celery
1 tsp lemon juice
1 handful of raisins
1 handful of chopped walnuts
4 Tbsp goat yogurt
1 tsp. maple syrup, agave nectar or liquid honey

Directions
1. Chop the apples and toss immediately with lemon juice to prevent browning. Chop the celery and walnuts. Add raisins.
2. Combine the yogurt and maple syrup or other sweetener.
3. Toss all ingredients together and serve.


I hope that I have inspired you to try some goat dairy – there are so many ways to enjoy this delightfully digestible food and many are found at a regular grocery store (a small miracle for those of you who have not yet ventured into a health food emporium). There’s a goat lover in all of us, unleash yours today!

Pound for Pound

My stepmother is a wonderful woman and I have always admired her desire to try new things and challenge herself. So when she decided to create her own recipe for a lemon raspberry pound cake, I was very impressed, since she doesn’t often bake without a little help from her friend Betty Crocker. The cake wasn’t the prettiest sight and totally inedible, but it was merely her lack of experimenting experience that turned her lemon raspberry pound cake, into a lemon raspberry puddle.

Baking, unfortunately, is not like cooking. It’s a fine science, and recipe alteration takes some experience. I decided that for mother’s day, I would show my step mom how to alter a good recipe in a healthy way without running into too many problems. The cake turned out really well - and even my dad, the king of sugar and preservatives, liked it.

It’s relatively easy to make your favorite recipes into healthy ones simply by adding, subtracting, or modifying a few ingredients. You can take a modest pound cake full of empty calories and turn it into a fiber-rich, low-fat, flavorful party-in-your-mouth without anyone even noticing! Just follow these simple steps and you’re on your way to healthier heaven.

Fat: For baked goods, use half the butter, shortening or oil and replace the other half with unsweetened applesauce, mashed banana or prune puree.

Sugar: Reduce the amount of sugar by one-third to one-half. When you use less sugar, add spices such as cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg or flavorings such as vanilla extract or almond flavoring to enhance the sweetness of the food.

Sodium: Reduce salt by one-half in baked goods that don't require yeast. For foods that require yeast, don't reduce the amount of salt, which is necessary for leavening. Without salt, the foods may become dense and flat. For most main dishes, salads, soups and other foods, however, you can reduce the salt by one-half or eliminate it completely.

Fiber: Substitute white flour for a whole grain flour such as spelt, kamut, barley, oat, or whole wheat. Or, just use half the white flour and half whole grain; you’ll still be doing yourself a big favor! When possible, add extra fruits and vegetables to your recipe and include the peel when appropriate.

Eggs: This helps for vegan baking! Replace 1 egg in baking with 1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 tbsp water. It will bind ingredients just as well and provide a boost of fiber.

Lemon Raspberry Pound Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
2 ¼ cups spelt, kamut, or whole grain whole-wheat flour (replaced 2 ¼ cups white cake flour)
1 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. unsalted organic butter at room temperature
2 Tbsp. applesauce (replaced 2 Tbsp. butter)
½ cup organic raw cane sugar or Sucanat (replaced 1 cup white sugar)
1 Tbsp. ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tbsp. water (replaced 1 large egg)
2 egg whites
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (increased 1 tsp. vanilla to enhance sweetness)
1 cup organic vanilla yogurt
1 ½ cups raspberries frozen; keep frozen until ready to use (increased fruit by ½ cup)
Finely grated zest of 1 organic lemon

Glaze:
2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
(I added this glaze because I reduced the sugar by half in the modified recipe and thought that the cake would taste better with a real sweetness on the top. It worked!)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat 6 cup loaf pan with butter or light flavored oil. Sift together four, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl beat butter until creamy; gradually beat in sugar, about 2-3 minutes until mixture is light in colour. Gradually beat in egg, egg whites, extract and lemon peel. Beat in flour mixture and yogurt, alternating each, beginning and ending with flour mixture; fold in frozen raspberries. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until a wooden toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean (time will vary depending on your oven. My cake baked for 1 hour and 20 minutes, but check yours after 45 minutes). Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Slide a thin knife around the edges of cake to loosen, invert pan onto cooling rack. Make glaze by whisking maple syrup and lemon juice together. While still slightly warm, perforate top of cake with a fork and carefully spoon on the glaze. Cool completely. Slice and serve.