A Sick Day & Brownies

Under these circumstances…What should I eat?
A Registered Dietitian & Holistic Chef’s perspective on making food choices when information is abundant and money is scarce.

Today I took a sick day. I have been feeling ill all week and I can’t tell if it is a true stomach thing, flu-like or if it is that sick feeling of dread when you just don’t want to do “this” today or tomorrow or the next day. Yes, I have to admit that I sometimes dread my job but it’s not that I don’t like it. How can that make sense? Well, I do like the other employees. I like that my mind is engaged while working. But I don’t love that fact that even if I am a quick worker that I still am supposed to be there 8 hours each time because of some stupid labor laws. Some days I only want to work 4-5 hours and other days I want to work 10-12 and in the end the hours balance out.

In many aspects of my life I am pretty middle of the road. My personality is pretty much pleasant, never overly exuberant or under enthusiastic. I have good energy to get things done but sometimes I crash, although most of the time I am very even keeled. But when it comes to work I like to do either a lot or a little, not somewhere in the middle. So sometimes I will work hard for several days and then I want a few days to regroup. In the past this is what I loved about consulting work. I was allowed to work a lot and then take a few days off. So I could go out of town, or stay home and write or create or build or do whatever else I wanted to do to use my right brain because at work I use mainly, but not completely, my left brain. You see, I feel and understand and typically listen to my internal cues for balance. This job, however, with its multiple layers of corporate policies, has begun to stifle my internal balancing cues. I fear that this happens to many people but instead of taking a day off or changing jobs, they just allow it to happen until finally they really begrudge their jobs so therefore they indulgence in other ways like eating, having affairs, buying stuff. All we really need to do is to listen to, and then act on, the internal cues of our bodies which are forever trying to 'achieve balance'.

In time I will finish writing and publish my weight management book called The Dilution Solution. It is about the study of water and weight management. Water, it has been said, is the ultimate equalizer to all things on the earth. Think about how global warming threatens the potential for coastal flooding. If we don’t do something to alter global warming then before we know it, the oceans will balance us out. There will be fewer of us to add to the problem. In respect to our bodies, which are 70% water, just like the earth, water is the great equalizer. For me, living near the ocean allows me to feel balanced after spending 8-10 hours inland. But sometimes I need more. My diet is another way I achieve balance though water. Water rich foods help to fill me up and help me stay full. But sometimes even I want something more. Sometimes my diet is so water rich; full of soups, salads, protein shakes, and whole “water rich” grains (not dry ones). Well, sometimes I want a “dry” food, like a cookie. Today is a good day for that since I am not feeling well and since cookies comfort me, this might be a good time to make some. The only problem is that I don’t want to go to the store to buy anything. I want to make some sort of cookie out of what is already at my disposal.

It was really a conversation with my friend Danielle that sparked my cookie interest. She was at the grocery store buying some healthy ingredients for dinner when she came across the fresh baked cookies. She said, “Oh, no.” and I said, “What?” She said, “I can’t tell you.” And I said, “What? Just tell me.” She said, “Its cookies, with peanut butter and chocolate chunks and ohhhh, yummm. “ I said, “I have been craving cookies. Let’s see, what do I have to make cookies.” I looked around my apartment/kitchen/bedroom all-in-one, and saw my molasses, a rich source of iron used for my protein shakes. I saw whole wheat flour which I keep on hand for just this occasion. And I saw my dark cocoa powder which I use in my protein shakes to satisfy my chocolate cravings and to add magnesium and a class of antioxidants called Catechins. Found in tea, Catechins are powerful protectors from disease. I got up and grabbed a baking book which I purchased during my culinary program. It is a book called Uprisings, put out by the Cooperative Whole Grain Educational Association and first published in 1983. I have the revised version from 1990. It is a great book, I would highly recommend it for anyone who likes to bake and use alternative flours and healthy ingredients.

So, after a quick eval of my potential ingredients, I decided to open this book to see what I could make using only what I had on hand, and low-and-behold I instantly opened up to a page with a recipe called Carob Nut Bars. Carob is like cocoa, so that will work. Plus the recipe called for whole wheat flour and maple syrup, which I also had, chopped walnuts, got them too, plus oil, & tahini. The oil they called for was safflower, canola or sunflower. Well, I typically only buy olive oil, the extra virgin kind which is kind of strong flavored for baking but “Use what you have”, I always say. The tahini is sesame seed paste and I do sometimes have that on hand but not right now. Tahini is used in many of these recipes as a vegetarian replacement for butter. It is a wonderful substitute because not only is it vegan, it is saturated fat free and rich in a nutrient called a phytosterol; a powerful cholesterol lowering compound found in highest concentration in sesame seeds.

Well, none-the-less, I don’t have any tahini but knowing that I need a fat with properties similar to butter or tahini, the closest thing I could think of was flax seeds. You see, flax seeds, when ground and mixed with water in the right proportions, which only I know how, gives you a kind of slippery mixture similar to egg whites. In fact, you can use this same mixture to substitute for eggs. The ratio goes like this; for every egg you want to replace, take 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds, plus 3 Tablespoons of water. The mixture will yield ¼ cup of total volume which is the same volume you would get from one whole egg or two egg whites or if you bought “egg substitute” the package instructs you to use ¼ cup of egg substitute to replace or ‘substitute’ one whole egg. So, since I didn’t have tahini or butter I decided to use the flax seed & water combo. So, the recipe goes as follows and I can tell you now, since they are done and I have already eaten some, that they are good, very much like a brownie. Not sure I’d use as much molasses so I will give you what I should have used because the molasses can tend to dominate the flavor.

BTW: even if it is “healthy”, if it is a baked good, it is is a 'dry' food. 'Dry' foods are the culprit for most portion control and weight management issues (not just my oppinion, also the oppinion of one of the leading Weight Managment researchers, Andrew Drewnowksy, PhD, from Washington State). I do have some difficulty with portion control so I gave a big portion to my neighbors. Just FYI, in case this is also your issue. Plus sharing makes things taste better I always say.

Cocoa Molasses Nut Bars/Brownies

Need a 6x10 inch pan or thereabouts, I used an 8x8 Pyrex glass baking dish and it worked out the same. Actually it should because 6 + 10 inches = 16 inches as does 8 + 8 inches = 16 inches, makes sense, right?

Wet ingredients
¼ cup oil (olive, canola, safflower, grapseed, etc)
1 Tbsp ground flax seeds + 3 Tbsp water (PS if you have tahini I might add 1-2 Tbsp too)
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup molasses (Initially I used 1/3 cup of each but would rather have more maple than molasses)

Keep a little water on the side to add if the ingredients seem too dry

Combine all wet ingredients in a small mixing bowl and whisk with a fork until well blended

Dry ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup cocoa powder (I like Ghirardelli Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, but if you can get a bulk dark cocoa at an Amish store like we have in PA, please do)
¾ cups chopped walnuts (I only had ½ cup walnuts so I also ground up ¼ cup almonds and mixed the two)

Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl
Add the wet to the dry and mix with a fork

Then with very clean, dry hands, mix the ingredients by hand so that all the wet and dry are well combined to make a moist dough

Pour a smidge of oil into the bottom of your baking dish
Using a pastry brush, a rubber spatula or your clean hands, spread the oil evenly on the bottom and sides of the pan

Add the dough and use your clean hands to smoosh the dough on the bottom & sides of the pan to spread evenly

Place the pan in the freezer for about 1-2 hours to allow the dough to set
Or you could refrigerate overnight to bake fresh for the next day

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. I took the median and baked for 11 minutes.
Let cool on a baker’s rack or on a window sill. Cut while warm but not too hot.

They should mush together when you pull out a piece kind of like an undercooked brownie but so much better for you. Enjoy!

Cut into 16 pieces about 1 inch square

Per serving
170 calories
8g fat
23g carbohydrates
3g fiber
9g sugar
4g Protein

% Daily Values
71% Manganese
19% Selenium
17% Copper
16% Magnesium
12% Iron
11% Phosphorus
10% Niacin
9% Zinc
8% Potassium
7% Calcium
6% Thiamin
4% Vitamin E, Folate & Pantothenic Acid
3% Riboflavin

The only nutrients lacking are Vitamin D, which you can get from 15 minutes in the sun and Sodium which we can get everywhere else. Vitamin A & Vitamin C are also missing, all the more reason to precede a serving of brownie with a big green salad and a bowl of fresh citrus fruit. Add some tofu salad, an egg or two, chicken or tuna to the salad and voila, a completely balanced meal with dessert.