Today is a very exciting day for me and The Leftover Queen blog! It is the day that I get to tell you more about my involvement in the ThinkFood Project and Book. Plus, I also get to give away a copy of this fantastic book to one of my loyal readers!

Although I can’t share the recipe with you yet, you’ll have to wait until the winter for that, I can tell you that it is a new and improved, totally revised recipe that I call my “Breakfast of Champions” and the main ingredient is eggs. I have been developing this recipe for about a year now and I am so excited to share it with everyone that picks up a copy of the book.

The inspiration for this recipe is two-fold. First, to find a dish that I would enjoy for breakfast, regularly. Prior to last year, I was never a breakfast person. Second, was to create something that has a balance of nutrients to keep me going through a hard workout (one of my passions and what this recipe was developed for), a day of work on the homestead, or just a busy brain day at work. This is an excellent recipe for anyone who wants a powerful and nutritious start to their day no matter what the day might bring. Some of the components can be made ahead, making it ideal for busy folk as well. Plus it is so delicious and satisfying, that I look forward to eating it about 5 days a week. It is also extremely diverse.

“Eggs are an amazing whole food. They are rich in choline, a key ingredient in the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is necessary for the healthy communication between brain cells. Studies have shown that choline intake promotes recovery from learning memory disorders in the aging brain, and may even improve psychic function in those with senile dementia or Alzheimer’s. Egg yolks are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, yielding additional brain benefits”. – ThinkFood, Recipes for Brain Fitness

I want to take this further and say that farm fresh eggs that are gotten local from truly free-ranging, pastured birds are even more nutritious. Nutrients can be lost the longer a fresh egg sits in storage, and mass produced eggs can have unwanted antibiotics in them. Birds that are free-ranging eat their natural diet which includes a variety of greens as well as bugs and worms. They are healthier, and therefore their eggs are better for you.

So how can you tell a good quality egg from a bad? Good quality eggs have a deep yellow, almost orange yolk that retains it’s shape when it is cracked open. Instead of a thin white, good eggs have a more viscous part surrounding the yolk and thinner area just around the perimeter.

If you purchase high quality eggs you shouldn’t have a problem with salmonella and other bacteria and viruses. Over 95 percent of all U.S. eggs currently coming from caged hens. Caged hens live their entire lives crammed together. They have no room to even lift their wings. They are stacked on top of each other in cages. Many never even see the light of day. These are mal-nourished and diseased birds. This kind of environment is a breeding ground for all sorts of nastiness. These eggs are at high risk for salmonella and other bacteria. You can tell them apart because they will have pale yellow yolks, a thin white and a bland taste. I believe that eggs are the perfect food, but only if you get the best quality eggs. They are more expensive, but if you do the math, they are on average about 40-50 cents per egg. Can you afford 40 or 50 cents for breakfast? So support your local farmers, or even neighbors who have a few backyard chickens, with extra eggs. To find a local farmer near you, please check out Localharvest.org. Try several different producers and inspect your eggs for color, viscosity and taste. Or better yet, get a few backyard hens for yourself!

(Our girl, Gimpy)

I really can’t wait to share my recipe with you, and all my tips for making it ever more varied. So be sure to sign up for the free recipe of the week program at any time via this link.  You will get an email each week for 50 weeks highlighting each one of the recipes per week. The recipe of the week pages give each blogger’s tips, info about the blogger, and photos along with all of the recipes. There is really no reason why you shouldn’t sign up this minute!

Well, actually you should wait just a minute, because I want to tell you about how you can get your own free copy of ThinkFood.

How to Enter The ThinkFood Book Giveaway:

Anyone is welcome to enter, provided doing so does not violate any local laws of your place of residency. International participants are welcome, but all participants must be over the age of 18.

Please remember that for your entry to count, you must leave a separate comment for every entry you make.

1) DO THIS FIRST (REQUIRED): Tell me your favorite way to cook with eggs, and if you purchase farm fresh eggs.

Optional ways to get more entries:

2) Blog about this giveaway describing why you want to win the book, and link your post to this giveaway. (1 extra entry)

3) Subscribe to The Leftover Queen RSS  feed. (1 extra entry)

4) Enter your email address to Subscribe to Daily Emails. (1 extra entry)

5) Fan The Leftover Queen on Facebook. (1 extra entry)

6) Follow The Leftover Queen on Twitter and tweet @leftoverqueen with a link to the giveaway. (1 extra entry)

If you are already a fan of The Leftover Queen and have done all or some of the above, and wish to enter the contest just write that you already subscribe to the newsletter, facebook page or RSS feed, by email, etc. Make sure to leave a separate comment for every entry.

Why Enter?

1) Because it is free

2) There are tons of awesome recipes and photos for each recipe in the book

3) Who couldn’t use a little more brain health?

The winner will be announced on this post next Tuesday, September 7th. The winner will be drawn at random and contacted on September 7th. The winner has until Thursday Sept. 9th by 10 AM, EST to respond before another winner is chosen.

If you would like to purchase a copy of the book for yourself, or for someone else (they make great gifts), you can use this link. They will also be available on Amazon very soon.

We started our garden about a month late – our moving date was not well timed with the Farmer’s Almanac this year. So now, we are harvesting veggies that everyone else in our area harvested 4-6 weeks ago. In some ways it makes us feel really behind in our gardening, but in another way it is actually good – having a second harvest! The first time around we bought these goodies from the farmer’s market – second time around from our garden!

Less than two weeks ago we got our biggest harvest yet – 5 beets, 10 carrots, fresh herbs and lots of beautiful edible flowers – nasturtium and borage.

FLOWER POWER!

Nasturtium flowers and leaves are edible and have a wonderful peppery flavor. Even the seeds can be pickled – they apparently taste like capers. The flowers are high in vitamin C, and have been used to treat colds. It can also be used topically for bacterial and fungal infections because of its mustard-oil content.

Borage flowers are perhaps one of the only truly found in nature blue foods, beyond blueberries. They have a very sweet taste. The flowers are also rich in minerals, most notably potassium. Medicinally the leaves are often used as support to the adrenal glands and for inflammation. Probably the most well-known use for borage is borage oil. Borage oil is very high in gamma-linolenic acid, GLA. GLA is an essential fatty acid, omega-6 oil. Borage oil supplements are most beneficial for arthritis and chronic dry skin, such as eczema.

We really planted both of these flowers in accordance with companion planting – plants that keep bugs and disease, as well as other garden pests away from the plants you are growing for food. So these plants have a dual purpose. Plus they are very pretty as an edible garnish. My stepdaughter Gwen had never had an edible flower until we served this salad for dinner recently. At first she didn’t want to try them, but after some coaxing, she did, and she really liked them!

I love roasting beets for salads, and pairing them with goat cheese. There is something so good , and not to mention aesthetically beautiful about the combination of goat cheese and beets. So I decided to roast the whole lot, and arrange them on top of fresh greens from the garden, also. As we have been harvesting plenty of those for months now.

This is a perfect dinner salad on a hot summer night, when your family is looking for something light. This would also be a wonderful first course to a summer harvest dinner. It is colorful, delicious and healthy on so many levels!

INGREDIENTS:

5 small beets, cut in half
10 baby carrots
2 TBS fresh rosemary
1 TBS fresh thyme
salt & pepper
olive oil
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp maple syrup
5 cups fresh greens – arugala, red leaf and green leaf lettuces, nasturtium leaves
olive oil to toss the greens in
salt & pepper to season greens
¼ cup goat cheese, crumbled
nasturtium flowers, as garnish
borage flowers, as garnish

METHOD:

Stir the veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper and herbs until well coated. Roast in a preheated 400 F oven for about 45 minutes, turning once halfway through.

In the same bowl, add mustard and maple, dump the roasted veggies in and stir to coat. Then toss the greens with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Crumble the goat cheese on top, arrange the roasted veggies and the edible flowers. Serves 4 as a main dish.

I love pickles and I love all kinds of pickles, from cucumbers and onions to turnips, and everything in between. Last year I made bread and butter refrigerator pickles, which we liked, but needed some improvement to the flavor. I meant to make more, and experiment with the methods, but didn’t get around to it, until a few weeks ago.

I had purchased a Master Vegetable Fermenter from Cultures for Health a few months ago, in hopes that I would have a lot of garden vegetables this year to culture into things like sauerkraut, pickles, curtido and gingered carrots. Since we are still a few weeks away from harvesting any of these goodies, because we got a late start, I thought I would buy some cucumbers at the Farmers Market and get practicing. During that same Farmers Market trip I also got some garlic scapes, and decided to throw some in the mix as well. Just for seasonal relativity, I made these pickles about a month ago, right as garlic scapes were beginning to show up at the markets.

The process to making lacto-fermented pickles is easy because there is no cooking and so canning process involved. This food preservation technique goes back to a time where there was no refrigeration. You use sea salt or whey brine to inhibit the growth of un-friendly bacteria, and mold, until enough lactic acid is produced to keep the vegetables preserved for many months. In the old days, people kept these stored in their cold root cellars along with other winter storage veggies. These days, most people store them in their refrigerator. There are added health benefits to preserving vegetables this way as well, since the lactobaccili which produce the lactic acid enhance digestibility through supporting the growth of healthy flora and enzymes in our gut.

As with any recipe, starting with the freshest ingredients possible is very important. I used a recipe for pickles from Nourishing Traditions, and enhanced it with the garlic scapes, fresh dill from the garden, pickling spices and added raw apple cider vinegar after fermentation, since we do like the vinegar flavor of store bought pickles. My next batch, I am going to try a bread and butter version. Remember it is important not to add these other components until after the fermentation process.

This original batch was a hit. We had friends over for dinner last week, and they brought with them raw milk and fermented pickles to contribute to the dinner (we love our friends!) and we had a pickle tasting. I am not sure if they were just being nice, but everyone agreed that my pickles were the best. Think I am going to make a batch for them the next time we visit them? You betcha!

INGREDIENTS:

6 cucumbers

6 garlic scapes, chopped

1 TBS of pickling spices

2 TBS of fresh dill

2 TBS sea salt (or 1 TBS of sea salt and 1 TBS of whey)

1 cup filtered water

water

¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar

METHOD:

Wash cucumbers and garlic scapes well and place in the vegetable fermenter (or a large, half gallon wide mouth mason jar). Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the cucumbers, adding more water if necessary to cover the vegetables. The top of the liquid should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for 3-7 days and transfer to cold storage. Once the culturing is complete, add the apple cider vinegar and mix.

I have not made this recipe using the mason jar method, preferring the master vegetable fermenter method, which has a glass jar that includes an airlock set up which facilitates gas escaping your fermented vegetables while keeping air out. This allows you to make pickles, sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables while greatly reducing and usually eliminating the threat of mold.

NOTES (paraphrased from Cultures for Health): Do not remove the lid from the jar during the culturing process. Removing the lid could introduce bacteria which can cause mold or scum. Check your vegetables through the glass every day to check for signs of scum or mold. If any is present just scrape it off the top, and obviously do not eat any vegetables that have mold on them.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, in a post about the ThinkFood project I am honored to be a part of, that I am a huge fan of eggs. They are a central part of our family’s diet, something we eat on a daily basis. One egg has 13 essential nutrients in varying amounts – including high-quality protein, choline, folate, iron and zinc. Eggs also play a role in brain function, muscle strength, healthy pregnancy, eye health and more. Eggs are an important part of a healthy diet, and do not have a link to high cholesterol, a common myth that has unfortunately been perpetuated through mis-information.

I love eggs not only for all all their amazing health properties, but because they are so versatile and delicious. I love them for breakfast, in omelets, crepes and pancakes. For lunch, hard-boiled on a salad, or made into egg salad. Sometimes even for dinner as a frittata, or the glue for a nice breaded, pan fried piece of meat or fish. They are perfect for dessert, be it clafoutis, creme brulee, pudding, ice cream, or custard. We probably could integrate eggs into every meal, and not even notice!

Living out in the country, we have access to many varieties of farm fresh eggs. White ones, brown ones, even green ones. You can also often times get eggs from other poultry, besides chicken as well. In our area, we have access to goose eggs, duck eggs, even emu eggs! A while back, at the Farmers Market, I got some goose eggs to try.

The first two I used to make a huge omelet, and I noticed that the goose eggs made the dish sweeter than chicken eggs. So I knew that with the third egg, I was going to make a creamy rich custard. I love a good, simple vanilla custard.

I went pretty basic here, wanting the flavor of the egg to really come through. I used this recipe from Evil Shenanigans as inspiration.  I don’t like my desserts super sweet, and I tend to cut the sweetener in any recipe by half, sometimes more. I figure that if it isn’t sweet enough, we can always add a drizzle of maple on top. But some desserts are so sickly sweet, and you can’t remove the sweetness once it is in. This is also a good way to make desserts if people in your family vary in the strength of their sweet tooth – this way everyone is accommodated!

We enjoyed the custard with a nice dollop of Frangelico-laced fresh whipped cream and a raspberry on top!

INGREDIENTS:

1 goose egg (or substitute 3 large chicken eggs)

¼ cup of pure maple syrup

1 TBS pure vanilla extract

2 cups whole milk

½ tsp ground cinnamon

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 325F. Boil 4 cups of water. Whisk together the egg(s), maple and vanilla. In a sauce pan, heat up the milk until it simmers and remove from heat. Add the milk to the egg mixture at about ¼ at a time, whisking the entire time. Once half of the milk has been added in ¼ cup increments, pour in the rest of the milk, and whisk well. Add the cinnamon. Then pour the custard into 4 ramekins, or a small baking dish. Place the ramekins, or baking dish into a roasting pan, or larger baking dish. Carefully add the boiling water until it reaches ¾ of the way up the sides of the ramekins or small baking dish. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until custard is set, and jiggles in the middle. Carefully remove from the oven, and allow the custard to cool in the water bath for about 30 minutes. Then you can chill it in the fridge, or serve warm. However you like!

One of my latest kitchen experiments has been baking with a sourdough starter. I have been baking all our breads, pizza doughs, pastries, cookies, cakes, etc from scratch now for over 2 years. One of the many ways in which I vote for better food with my money daily. Not only is baking from scratch cheaper than buying, but most recipes whether bread, cake, or pretzels, three of the recipes I am going to share with you today, have under 10, and more often, under 5 ingredients, no preservatives, corn syrup, or weird chemicals. I challenge you to find that at your grocery store!

I had also heard that many people with gluten sensitivity (not Celiac) did better eating baked goods made from true fermented sourdough than baked goods leavened more commonly with yeast. I waited until our big move to experiment with sourdough, as once you have a starter, you have to feed and maintain it to keep it healthy and alive. So now, besides 2 dogs, a cat, 10 chickens, kefir – both dairy and water, kombucha, and yogurt, I have added sourdough culture to my feeding schedule! I can’t say with certainty if it is the sourdough or the spelt flour I have switched to that allows me to enjoy breads and the like without feeling like I have a hangover the next day. I still eat all of these things sparingly, although my dear husband, who is a major carb addict, seems to be enjoying his daily bread without any side affects. It took eating this kind of bread, for him to realize that he was having a bit of a problem with the other kinds.

Anyway, sourdough is extremely versatile, and not all sourdough starters are created equal. You can try to capture your own, or you can purchase one. I decided to start by purchasing one from Cultures for Health. Several weeks later, I got another one from Erik a friend who sells hand roasted coffee at our local farmers market. He traded me sourdough starter from Ischia, Italy and kombucha for some Viili culture. I think I got the better deal.

I started experimenting by baking bread from the book Baking with Sourdough by Sara Pitzer, from Storey Publishing and then tweaked it a bit, to make it more to our liking. After I figured that out, I started playing around with various herbed breads, which is how I came up with the Za’atar Spice Bread Ring.

After I had that under my belt, or better yet, in my stomach, I wanted to try something I had never heard of – Sourdough Chocolate Cake, from the same book, which I also tweaked. This cake was really fantastic and probably one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had. We are not big cake eaters in this house, so I can affirm that it froze well, and also lasted in the fridge for about 2 weeks. I am sure you could have a lot of fun with this recipe, including making various kinds of icing. Roberto liked spreading nutella on his, and I enjoyed mine plain or sometimes with a schmear of almond butter.

Most recently I tried making Sourdough Pretzels, all the same ingredients (except honey in place of sugar) but tweaked the method a little bit to allow all the flour to ferment. The pretzels turned out being more like pretzel shaped bread, than actual pretzels. I got a lot of helpful suggestions on facebook like adding sparkling water or lemon juice for better rising. So I think I will have to try again. Although Roberto likes them, since he can grab one, kind of like a roll to have with meals, without needing to slice anything.

I have continued on experimenting with making sourdough spelt pizza dough, buckwheat pancakes and crepes, as well as muffins. The pizza dough, pancakes and crepes have become staples in our house (look for these recipes soon), while the muffins still need some work. But the wonderful thing is, each week I have to feed my starter, which means at least once a week I should bake something and so I am trying to keep creative. I have been yeast baking free for almost 3 months! I definitely encourage you

to try your hand at it too. If you would like to try and catch your own starter, my blogging buddy Michelle over at Big Black Dog has a great post about it!

I am going to share THREE recipes with you today. For one, I want to show you just how diverse sourdough is – it is not just for bread! And also because my mom is coming to visit for a few weeks, and my posting rate may be a bit slower these next few weeks – so I wanted to keep you busy while I on vacation!

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I have been sitting on a very big secret for a while now, but I am excited to be able to reveal it to you today!  One of my very favorite recipes, the new and improved version of something that I eat nearly every single day of my life, will be featured in a fantastic new cookbook – ThinkFood. I can’t tell you what the recipe is yet, you’ll have to be surprised. I will tell you though that my brain healthy food is the incredible edible egg.

I adore eggs. In our household we eat about 12-14 eggs a week, for breakfast (and sometimes dinner), in baking, desserts and ice cream making! We love eggs so much, and believe that they are such a quick, inexpensive, versatile and substantial form of nutrition, that we got our own flock of layers to keep us in eggs for a very long time. I will be posting soon about another egg variety I was able to sample recently! Like I said, eggs are an incredibly good source of healthy fat and protein. Both things every brain loves.

Thinkfood is a cookbook featuring 50 delicious, original, brain-healthy recipes, each created by a different food blogger. You can sign up for the Recipe of the Week program to receive  and preview a tasty new recipe from the cookbook. It will be delivered to your inbox every week—free! With each recipe, you will receive information about the blogger who created the recipe, with exclusive cooking tips, and information about the science behind the brain healthy foods and nutrients in the recipe!

A physical version of the cookbook with all 50 recipes and beautiful, full page photographs, will be available for purchase at the end of July!

ThinkFood is a cookbook sponsored and published by Posit Science and features 50 brain-healthy recipes from bloggers around the globe, including snacks, appetizers, sides and salads, main course and desserts.

The goal of this project is to take an integrated approach to brain health that includes brain training and brain healthy eating. Brain health and health in general are subjects that I am very passionate about. There are very few people today who are not affected by brain diseases and issues, either by having them, themselves or knowing someone that does. My dear Nana  lost her battle with Alzheimer’s disease, over 10 years ago, and I am dedicating my participation in this project to her memory.

My cousin Michelle w/ my Pap-pap and me with Nana.

So please sign up for the Recipe of the Week Program and you will start receiving delicious brain healthy dishes. I think we could all feed our brains a little better.  Each blogger and their recipe will be featured over the next 50 weeks. I will be sure to let everyone know as the date for my recipe to be featured approaches!

(photos courtesy of Nourished Kitchen)

There is still a few more days to sign up for the Nourished Kitchen e-course! If you ever wanted to learn how to make your own cheese, yogurt or soft drinks at home, this is the course for you! If you want to learn how to shop farmers markets and make awesome seasonal, organic and local foods using the freshest and most nutrient-dense foods for you and your family, without breaking the bank – this course is for you! If you read my blog and wonder how the heck I have time to make all this stuff, and wish you could, this is the course for you! If you care about the foods you put into your body and want to make a commitment to REAL FOOD today -     Please sign up today and start your own Food Revolution!

As a blogger, aspiring to bring my readers better food, more interesting stories, and drool-worthy photos of my creations, I look to other bloggers who do what I want to do, but do it better. They are like virtual mentors whose posts I pour over, and get excited about when I see them in my inbox. They are the bloggers whose nearly every recipe ends up in my “to make” box.

One of these bloggers is Jenny from Nourished Kitchen.  To me, she is a marvel – she makes delicious, nutrient dense foods, using practices our great grandparents did – making fermented vegetables, cultured dairy products, and using real butter, full fat raw milk and real bacon! While raising a family AND managing her local farmers market! I have been working to eat more and more this way over the past months, and I always look to Jenny’s delicious blog for inspiration. She is a wealth of information and really one of the most gracious bloggers I have been in contact with.

So it is with excitement that I am announcing her awesome e-course! After hearing over and over again from her readers a need for a simple, but thorough way to better incorporate local foods and back-to-basics, traditional cooking into their kitchens, she began work on this e-course. Through this interactive 12-week program Jenny will show you the ropes to making delicious , good for you food that won’t break your back, or your budget, that is usually local, organic and in season. This is the time to start your own Food Revolution, faithful readers! If you aren’t convinced, take a look at these amazing dishes:

Are you drooling yet? If so, here are the details on the e-course! Don’t forget Class begins June 1, 2010, and registration closes on May 31st!!! So you need to act fast!

What You’ll Get

• 12 Comprehensive, Multi-media Online Classes
• Video Tutorials Teaching You How to Cook Real Food
• Digital Workbook to Take Notes & Develop Your Own Recipes
• Charts Outlining Seasonally Available Foods
• Fact Sheets and Handy Tips Analyzing the Value of Real Food
• Online Discussion Forum for Members Only
• Menu Planning Tips & Sample Meal Plans
• Sample Shopping Lists and Equipment Recommendations
• SPECIAL BONUS: Discouts & Coupons from Companies I Trust

Get in now!

You’ll Learn How to:

• Shop for whole, unrefined local foods in season.
• Maximize nutrition and minimize cost.
• Plan meals that will help you stick to your food budget.
• Bake organic whole grain bread for a fraction of the cost of store-bought.
• Save a mint making homemade yogurt, cheese and pickles.
• Make use of cheaper cuts of meat with slow cooking.
• Make healthy homemade soda for just pennies a gallon.

The Lesson Overview

Lesson #1: What is Real Food & Where to Find It
Lesson #2: Eat Whole Grain
Lesson #3: Homemade Sourdough Bread
Lesson #4: Homemade Salad Dressings
Lesson #5: Prepare Seasonal Vegetables
Lesson #6: Make Real Pickles
Lesson #7: Roasted & Slow-cooked Meats
Lesson #8: Stocks, Broths & Soups
Lesson #9: Easy Homemade Yogurt & Cheese
Lesson #10: Soda & Soft Drink Alternatives
Lesson #11: Naturally Sweet Desserts
Lesson #12: Menus & Meal Planning

Check out Jenny’s eCourse here, watch a promo video, and find out how to register.  Class begins June 1, 2010, and registration closes May 31st!!! Every weekly course is at your leisure, at your own computer screen, and they’re all supported by a forum where you can ask Jenny and other participants questions.  There are limited spaces available.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Nourished Kitchen’s online eCourse, so I will be earning a commission from any sales made after clicking a link in this post.  This e-course it taking the blogosphere by storm, with many affiliates, so if you’re going to sign up for Jenny’s course (and you’re not one of her faithful readers), it would be appreciated to start here with my link.