Health | Happy Simple Living

A Letter to the Meat Industry

By eliza_cross, on May 8th, 2012%

Photo by Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden

Yesterday I read an article on the PR news site Bulldog Reporter about the meat industry’s “image crisis.” From the public outcry against “pink slime,” to a recent incident of mad cow disease in a dairy cow, to the Harvard study released this spring that suggests eating meat could lead to premature death, this spring has been a PR practitioner’s nightmare.

According to the LA Times article cited in the story, “beef historian and author Maureen Ogle believes the industry should have responded by running polished advertisements featuring ranchers touting their American heritage, as well as billboards proclaiming the safety of products, and executives should have been sent to major talk shows, she said.”

As a PR professional myself, I politely beg to disagree. I don’t think the meat industry has an image crisis that calls for a more polished public relations response. The meat industry has a listening crisis. The reason the media is filled with so much negative news is because the U.S. meat industry is not hearing its customers.

We are a household that still eats meat. I try to purchase from local producers who use organic feed, let animals graze, and treat them humanely, but like most people, sometimes I’m trying to live within the budget or I’m in a hurry and I purchase supermarket meat. I find that our family is moving to an increasingly vegetarian diet for many reasons – not the least of which is our distaste for much the U.S. meat industry’s standard practices. Your feelings may be different, of course, but here’s what I wish the meat industry would hear:

We don’t want animals suffering in fetid feedlots or stuffed in crowded cages – not at any cost. We want humane treatment of animals raised for food production.
We humans don’t want to have to forgo antibiotics when we’re sick, because of your continued overuse in the meat industry. (Factory farm animals consume 80% of all antibiotics in this country. The European Union curtailed use of routine antibiotic use on farms in 2006.)
We don’t want you to pump these animals full of hormones like rBGH to induce quick growth. Let them grow up naturally. (The European Union, Japan, Australia and Canada have all banned the use of rBGH due to animal and human health concerns.)
We want you to feed these animals good food that is part of their natural diet. We don’t want you to force animals that are herbivores, like cattle, to eat feed manufactured with animal by-products.
We don’t want pink slime or other cheap additives in our meat. We simply want good, top-quality meat. (Canada, the UK and European Union have banned pink slime from their meat, but here it can constitute up to a whopping 15 percent of our ground beef without any labeling. Why?)
We want you to take the lead in good practices. We want to be proud of our United States producers and processors, and we want U.S.-raised meat to be the best in the world.

In March 2012, ground beef sales slipped to the lowest level in a decade. Consumers are clearly voting with their checkbooks, and one can only hope that the U.S. meat industry collectively decides to improve its practices, not its propaganda.

What do you think?

How to Make a Pizza from Scratch With this Easy Homemade Pizza Recipe

By eliza_cross, on April 29th, 2012%

Pizza dough recipe at Happy Simple Living blog

A homemade, half-sausage half-cheese pizza

The first time I made a homemade pizza, I was dumbstruck by how much better it was than delivery pizza. The improvement in flavor was like comparing a home-grown summer tomato to one of those hard, pink, grocery store varieties – worlds apart. After I took a pizza baking class from my local Slow Food chapter at the Whole Foods bakery, I was hooked. The professional bakers taught us some tricks for making amazing homemade pizza, and now I’m going to share them with you – along with everything else I’ve learned about cooking pizzas nearly every week in a home oven.

If making homemade pizza sounds like a lot of trouble, I’m going to share our simple method—and you don’t need any fancy ingredients or equipment. I prepare the dough ahead and freeze several batches so we can have fresh pizza whenever we like. I can easily prepare a homemade pizza faster than one can be delivered from one of the pizza chains. Best of all, even though we use all-organic fresh ingredients it’s less than half the cost of a delivery pizza. A simple kid-friendly cheese pizza made at home with organic ingredients costs less than $4.00. What’s not to love?

I’ve experimented with different techniques, and I keep coming back to simply shaping and baking the pizza on a plain ole’ metal pizza pan. I bought ours for $10 about ten years ago, and since I’m aiming for simple, family-style pizza I generally don’t bother with the pizza stone and the peel and all that. But you certainly can if you’re feeling motivated.

The first step is to prepare the dough. I’ve included two recipes here. The first is a variation on the recipe we learned from the professional bakers at the class, and it takes 24 hours from start to finish so you do have to plan ahead. The base of the recipe is a Poolish, or “sponge” that you make one day ahead. This pre-fermenting step allows more time for yeast and enzymes to develop starch and proteins in the dough, which in turn creates greater complexities of flavor. The dough also goes through several steps of rising and kneading. The resulting crust is fantastic – crisp and slightly chewy, similar to what you might get in a great wood-fired pizza restaurant.

The second recipe, which is based on The Pioneer Woman’s, can be prepared on the same afternoon you have a hankering for homemade pizza. The dough is softer and slightly less chewy, but it’s still a hundred times better than delivery pizza crust.

Both recipes call for bread flour, which has a 12 to 14 percent protein content and will make the nice, elastic dough that creates great pizza crust. But if you don’t have bread flour, no sweat! Just use all-purpose flour and it’ll turn out fine. Also, you’ll save a ton of money if you pick up a bag of all-purpose instant yeast instead of using those little packets. The recipes below will work just fine with either type of yeast.

Are you ready to get started?

Pizza Dough Recipe #1

Note: You need to start this recipe 24 hours before you want to bake pizza. For a same-afternoon pizza, see recipe #2 below.

Poolish:

1 1/4 cups bread flour
3/4 cup water at 70 degrees F
1/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast

In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients until well-blended. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours.

Pizza Crust Recipe:

3 1/2 cups bread flour
3/4 cup spelt or whole wheat flour (or just use additional bread flour)
1 3/4 cup hot water at 140 degrees F, or as hot as you can get it from the tap
1 3/4 teaspoons sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1 recipe Poolish (see above)

Combine the flours, hot water, salt and yeast by hand, just until incorporated. Let the dough rest, covered, for about 30 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix by hand until incorporated, kneading for about 2 minutes. Let the dough rest again, covered, for another 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured work surface, knead the dough for 5 minutes:

Cover and rest for 20 minutes. Knead the dough for another 5 minutes, then cover and rest for another 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 4 or 5 pieces, lightly pre-shape into round pieces and cover and rest for 20 more minutes. Bake according to directions below.

Pizza Dough Recipe #2

This is a good all-purpose recipe for when you want to bake a homemade pizza that same night. The dough needs just one rise, and it’s ready an hour or two after you combine the ingredients. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, now’s the time to use it!

1-1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon dry yeast
4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl combine the warm water and yeast. Stir to combine and let sit for a few minutes, until bubbly. In a medium bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), combine the flour and salt. Using the low speed of an electric mixer or your hands, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and the yeast/water mixture. Mix until the dough comes together, like this:

Pull the dough into a ball and knead it for several minutes, until it is smooth and elastic.

Brush the bowl with a little olive oil, and place the dough inside. Flip it over to coat the bottom with oil, then cover with a damp dishtowel. Let the dough sit in a warm place for 1-2 hours or until doubled in volume:

Divide the dough in two equal pieces if you want a thicker crust, or into thirds if you want a thinner crust.

Easy Pizza Sauce Recipe

True confession time: sometimes I use a can of Hunt’s spaghetti sauce seasoned with a little oregano to top kid-friendly pizzas. A 28-ounce can costs $1 on sale and tops three large pizzas. Most of the time, however, we want a simple, traditionally-flavored sauce with rich tomato flavor to top the pie.

Here’s a super easy recipe that nicely fits the bill:

2 cups tomato puree or 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 tablespoon ground dried oregano
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, mix together the tomato puree and tomato paste until smooth. Stir in the oregano, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Makes about 2 2/3 cups of sauce, or enough for 2 large pizzas.

For grown-up pizzas, you can simply pulse a can of drained, Italian San Marzano tomatoes in the food processor until they are lightly blended but still chunky. Season to your liking, and you’re good to go. Or skip the red sauce altogether, and try a drizzle of olive oil.

Cooking the Pizza

Preheat the oven to 550 degrees F or your oven’s highest setting, and put the oven rack right in the middle. If you have a convection setting, turn it on. If you have a pizza stone you want to use, put it in the oven on the rack now and let it get nice and hot. If you don’t have a pizza stone, no problem – your pizza is still going to be crispy, chewy and GREAT.

Now, use your hands to pat and stretch the dough on lightly greased baking sheet to the desired shape and thickness. I don’t recommend using a rolling pin, because it will compress the dough and eliminate those wonderful air bubbles that give your pizza crust snap. Initially the dough may keep pulling back, and it may seem like it will never fit the pan. But keep working with it, and in a few minutes it will relax and stretch out. We like our pizza crust quite thin, so I try to stretch it as far out as possible without tearing the dough:

I like to bake the untopped pizza in the oven for three minutes to set the crust. This keeps the pizza from getting soggy when you add the sauce and toppings. Remove the pale, barely-baked crust from the oven:

Next, add your desired sauce. I tend to use more sauce when I’m making pizza for kids:

Finally, add your toppings. For some kids, this may mean simply a generous sprinkling of your favorite grated cheese. You can, of course, make the pie half-and-half for family members who like different toppings:

If you prebaked the pizza for three minutes, you can now easily slide it on a hot pizza stone if you like. I usually just leave it on the pan, but you may not be as lazy as I am. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes if you’re baking it on the pan, or until the edges of the crust are a golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. (One of the things the professional bakers said in our class is, “Home cooks never cook their pizzas long enough.” So make sure the crust is good and golden brown before you take it out of the oven.) Here’s a pie we made with half cheese, half Canadian bacon:

While the pizza is baking, I like to make a little garlic flavor for the crust. Just combine 1 tablespoon of melted butter or extra virgin olive oil with 1 clove of minced garlic:

Right when you take the pizza out of the oven, give the hot crust a quick brush with the sauce:

Cut and serve. (Don’t you love the red pizza cutter? It’s made by Microplane and we got it at Crate & Barrel – a very worthwhile splurge!)

Ingredients for Pizza Toppings

Here’s a pie we made recently topped with sliced fresh Roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella slices, spinach and basil:

You likely have your own favorite combination of ingredients, but if you’re looking for fresh inspiration you might like to try:

Barbeque sauce
Alfredo sauce
Pesto sauce (make your own!)
Goat cheese
Fresh mozzarella slices
Fresh ricotta cheese (make your own!)
Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
Pepperoni slices
Cooked, crumbled ground beef
Cooked, crumbled sausage
Cooked, crumbled bacon
Meatballs
Sliced grilled chicken
Canadian bacon slices
Anchovies
Sliced prosciutto
Baby shrimp
Fresh tomatoes, sliced and drained
Sun-dried tomatoes
Caramelized onions
Thinly sliced red onion
Sliced mushrooms
Sliced roasted eggplant
Sliced bell peppers
Roasted red peppers
Sliced giardineria or banana peppers
Sliced black or green olives
Roasted garlic
Sliced jalapenos
Roasted asparagus spears
Capers
Thinly sliced roasted new potatoes
Chopped artichoke hearts
Basil leaves
Thinly sliced sage leaves
Lightly sauteed spinach leaves
Arugula
Pineapple chunks
Crushed red pepper

So there you have it. I didn’t mean to write quite such a book, but hopefully this long post will inspire you to bake some amazingly delicious pizza pies at home. Whether you regularly make homemade pizza or are ready to give it a try for the first time, you know we’d all love to hear your thoughts, questions, suggestions and experiences.

Ciao!

P.S. What are your favorite pizza topping combinations? Please share them in the comments section below!

Simple Living and 7 Ways to Add More Balance to Your Life

By eliza_cross, on February 2nd, 2012%

Photo by Milne Dam

“I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life.” ~ Zig Ziglar

As some of you know, I was formerly a magazine publishing executive before I took the leap in 2001 to become a full-time writer. I helped launch several new magazines during my career, one of which was a now-defunct magazine called Balance. Written for busy women doctors, Balance was all about how to juggle an ultra-demanding job with family and friends and still have time for a life. The docs loved Balance, but some of the pharmaceutical companies that we relied on for advertising–not so much. Women doctors don’t prescribe as many drugs as male doctors, so drug companies at that time were less enthusiastic about reaching the market and the magazine eventually folded.

Creating Balance

I still treasure the conversations I had with women doctors, and the generous insights they shared about their own efforts to live well-rounded, meaningful, fulfilling lives. If you’re still seeking the perfect formula (like I always am!), 2012 is still a relatively new year. By honoring your hopes and goals, you can greatly influence many aspects of the coming months. Take a few minutes now to consider whether your day-to-day life is aligned with the things you care about most—and to make adjustments if needed. Your list may contain different priorities, but here are some areas to consider:

Your Primary Relationship

“Get away often with the one you love,” suggests Gail Riley, co-owner of the award-winning luxury inn Highland Haven and author of the new book Colorado Romance. “Break the day-in, day-out doldrums and remember why you fell in love.” Consider specific plans you could make in the months to come, to support and nurture your relationship with your significant other. Get a jump on Valentine’s Day and make a reservation at a romantic restaurant or order your partner a special treat now.

Family

Are you having fun and making good memories? Do you feel connected as a family? What could you do to encourage family togetherness and connectedness? You may want to plan more family dinners, take a special vacation, or choose a weekly family night to enjoy more quality time together.

Spirituality

Is this an area of your life in which you’d like to experience growth? If you want to give spirituality greater priority in your life, you may wish to attend your church or synagogue more regularly. Perhaps you could add a daily practice of praying or meditating to begin each day feeling grounded. Or perhaps you can make plans to go deeper by attending a class or going on a spiritual retreat.

Work

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition,” the late Steve Jobs said. Do you feel like you’re doing what you were put on this earth to do? Do you feel secure and hopeful about the future in your chosen career? Is your work bearing fruit? If not, consider what specific steps you might take in the coming year to explore new options, network and learn new skills.

Friends

Few relationships enhance our lives like supportive, positive friendships. Are you generally satisfied with your circle of friends and the opportunities you have to connect? If not, perhaps you would like to reach out to some new friends this year. Alternately, you may decide to spend less time with someone whose negative energy or demands are bringing you down.

Community

William James said, “The great use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.” Happy people generally derive deep satisfaction from giving back in a personally meaningful way. Do you have a heart for a particular cause or group of people? Are there specific steps you could take in the coming months to contribute in some way to the greater good?

Self Care

“We need to cultivate an overall lifestyle that supports our ability to maintain our energy from the inside out,” recommends Denver life coach and yoga teacher Diane Sieg. Busy people sometimes put everyone else’s needs first, but taking care of ourselves, relaxing and recharging are all essential elements of a balanced life. How might you carve out a little more time for yourself this year?

Whether you’re still striving to find the perfect balance or you’ve discovered the secrets to living a more harmonious life, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

P.S. This post was adapted from my article that originally appeared in Out of Denver magazine, and I’m grateful to the publisher for giving me permission to share it with you here.

Day 21 of the January Money Diet – Cook a Vegetarian Meal

By eliza_cross, on January 21st, 2012%

If you’re accustomed to always cooking dinner that includes some sort of meat, try to sneak a vegetarian meal in from time to time. Pasta, burritos, soup, stir-fry, a hearty salad, bruschetta — many recipes are already vegetarian or just need a substitution (beans instead of beef in chili, for example) for a yummy, meat-free meal. Need a little inspiration? This collection of vegetarian recipes is culled from the best of the best at the award-winning blog, 101 Cookbooks. With food as good as this, maybe your meat-and-potatoes man won’t even notice.

Cook at least one vegetarian dinner this week, and be sure to let us know what you prepare.

P.S. In case you’ve just joined us, the January Money Diet is a challenge to take a 31-day break from nonessential spending. You can learn more about the money diet here — and jump right in!

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Win a Deluxe Happy Simple Living Gift Basket

In honor of the January Money Diet, I’ll be giving away a gift basket chock-full of home and garden goodies plus several books at the end of the month. On January 31, 2012, I’ll draw one random name from everyone who commented during the month and that lucky person will win the gift basket. I hope you’ll stop by often this month and share your own ideas, thoughts and experiences about taking a 31-day break from nonessential spending.

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Make Your Own Green Chile With This Easy Recipe

By eliza_cross, on October 23rd, 2011%

Photo by Jacki

During these final weeks of the farmers’ market, we’re seeing a good harvest of chile peppers here in Colorado. Some vendors cook them in a hand-cranked roaster right on the spot, and one of the best smells of autumn is the aroma of fresh-roasted chiles wafting through an outdoor market or parking lot.

Along with our locally-grown chile varieties, we also love the renowned Hatch chiles from Hatch, New Mexico. These chiles have a short harvest season in late summer, but you can often find them in the frozen section at the grocery store. Just remember, the longer you keep them in the freezer the hotter they get!

If you get the opportunity to buy some fresh roasted peppers at the farmers’ market, peel off the blackened skins and use the chiles for a great pot of green chile. Or freeze them for a treat later this winter.

Photo by Scott Moore

Here’s our favorite green chile recipe, which you can easily multiply for larger quantities. It’s a simple preparation that really highlights the flavor of the chiles, and it’s naturally thick without the addition of flour (which I think can make green chile beige and pasty). It’s great served as is with tortillas on the side, or you can smother burritos, enchiladas or your favorite Mexican dish with it.

You can make the vegetarian version of this chile by omitting the pork and substituting vegetable broth for the chicken stock. The easiest way to control the heat is to begin by choosing your preferred level of spiciness with the peppers – mild, medium, spicy or extra-spicy. You can always also add fresh chopped jalapenos or habaneros to this recipe if you really like a kick!

HOMEMADE GREEN CHILE

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pound lean pork, cut into 1″ cubes
1 medium onion, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/4 pounds fresh long green chiles, roasted, peeled, seeds removed and coarsely chopped — or 16 ounces frozen, thawed, chopped green chiles like Hatch chiles
juice of half a fresh lime
1-1/2 cups chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Sauté the pork until evenly browned and remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain. Return the pan to the heat and add the onion, garlic, cumin and oregano. Cook, stirring often, until the onion just begins to brown. Add the green chiles and lime juice and cook, stirring often, for five minutes.

Return the browned pork cubes to the pan, add the chicken stock and stir well. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, cook for a few minutes more and serve. 6 servings.

Enjoy!

11 Things To Do With Fresh Mint

By eliza_cross, on September 6th, 2011%

Got mint? Summer may be winding down, but if mint grows in your garden I’m guessing it’s going nuts. You may feel like you’ve got enough mint to feed the entire state of Rhode Island, but fear not — here are some fresh ideas to help you make the most of the harvest.

1. Whip up some mint whipped cream and put a dollop (such a great word, and there aren’t nearly enough opportunities to use it) on strawberry mousse, chocolate cake, cookies and cream ice cream, brownies, hot chocolate, etc.

2. Add a handful of fresh mint to your next batch of pesto — like this.

3. Roll up some of these colorful, mouth-watering Vegetable and Mint Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce from The Kitchen.

4. Bake a batch of milk chocolate cupcakes with fresh mint frosting – from our friends at the aptly-named blog How Sweet It Is.

5. Take off your shoes and make a batch of Natural Lemony Mint Foot Scrub.

6. Now that your tootsies are happy, make the Barefoot Contessa’s Tabbouleh salad.

7. Make a mojito. We love this recipe from Jo Lynne at Musings of a Housewife with a mint-infused syrup that adds an extra punch of flavor. Plus, how often do you get to “muddle” something? Not nearly often enough, if you ask us.

8. Put up some homemade mint jelly. We like this recipe from the cleverly-named site Simply Recipes, which uses Granny Smith apples for natural pectin. Plus it’s a beautiful amber color instead of the typical artificial green. Enjoy a jar at home and give the rest as holiday gifts.

9. Make a batch of Fresh Mint Chocolate Truffles. Oh, yes yes yes. If you have extras, I can easily provide you with my shipping address.

10. Make minted iced tea — like this.

11. Who needs a still in the back yard when you can make homemade hooch in your kitchen? Brew some homemade Creme de Menthe and you’ll be able to make the Pioneer Woman’s Grasshopper Pie whenever a craving hits. It’s good to be prepared, I always say.

Do you have a mass o’ mint this year? If so, what are you doing with it? I’d love to hear your ideas.