Pasta day: Ricotta and Chard stuffed tubes

I found these pasta tubes in a store and I thought to myself, "hmm... I've never tried that before, but I bet it will go well with chard."  Without a solid plan, I brought them home and set to work making myself a treat.

A few minutes playing with google, and I didn't find any recipe that appealed to me, so I gave up and just went with my gut instinct.  That was the best decision I made all week.  The pasta turned out So Friggin Fantastic!

The filling:  Ricotta, which ended up being home made, with chard from my garden that has been boiled and finely chopped.  Salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne.

The sauce: onion, garlic, a carrot (first of the winter carrots from the garden).  Tomato sauce, wine, spicy rooster sauce, basil, salt and pepper.

Crispy fried bacon chunks for the top.  And some more whine in the dish to help the pasta cook through.

Sorry guys, it smelt so good and I was so hungry I couldn't wait to take a good photo.

Next time I think I'll put a thin layer of sauce under the pasta tubes to help them cook evenly all around.

There are some tubes left and I have a craving to somehow combine them with squash.  hmmm... have no idea how to pull that off.

Pasta Day - raman miso soup with squash and stuff

I'm in the mood for something light and colourful in the way of pasta today.  So I raided the fridge and garden to see what I could find.

I cooked the ramen noodles in some dashi, put them at the bottom of the bowl, and piled up some toppings.

Here we have left over smoked salmon, umeboshi, green onions,  fancy flower shaped cake things that look nice in soup but really have no flavour, and some wakame seaweed.

While the ramon was cooking, I simmered some squash in dashi in a separate pot, took it off the heat when the squash was done and added some chickpea miso paste.  I poured the soup on top of the noodles and...

mmmm... yummy!

Happy Pasta Day everyone.

What is Whole Wheat FSM?

Is it a food? hmmm.... yes and no.

It's a reference to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The idea is that if there is a deity based on food, or a food based on a deity, then eating becomes an act of devotion that nourishes both the body and soul.

Whole Wheat Pastafarianism (word for people who follow the teachings of the FSM) pokes fun at the (supposed) atheist origins of the religion by taking Pastafarianism to it's natural conclusion. Since the divine is food then it becomes a duty to eat the best quality (and tasting) and most nourishing food possible (given the individuals' budget and other social-economic constraints). Extend this further and cooking healthy food using methods that extract maximum taste and nourishment becomes an act of devotion. For example if one wanted mac and cheese for dinner, one could choose box-pasta, or one could buy some really nice cheese and toss together a casserole in the slow cooker (healthier yummier, and takes roughly the same time and expense per serving). Likewise, if one wanted sauerkraut, flowing the FSM way would lead one to choose home made live 'kraut over the more expensive, pasteurized tin cabbage mush.

Then, well, once you start thinking about it, food is only as good as it is grown. The egg is only as good as the chicken is fed, the wheat only as nutritious as the soil where it's roots rest. Taking the effort to choose food that has been grown in nourishing ways, becomes even more important.

On top of that, agricultural practices that deplete the land and reduce fertility for future generations is avoided where possible.  This is really important and close to my heart.  This is where eating becomes a political act as well as a spiritual one.  This tenant could be (and should be) expanded to include modifying our consumerist activities to helping those who do not have enough to eat in the world.  Diet for a Small Planet, 'though dated, is a book that addresses this issue and has some good ideas how we can vote with our fork - That the individual can improve the world through his or her choices isn't a new idea.


In it's most basic form, Whole Wheat Pastafarianism is supporting sustainable, holistic agricultural practices, and taking time each day to participate in food preparation - be it growing a garden, fermenting your own sauerkraut, cooking pasta... Taking a few moments to transform the daily act of food into mindful meditation.

How much of it is a religion, how much a philosophy, how much an excuse for common sense eating? I'm not sure... but it's fun, and I do like growing, fermenting and cooking healthy food. 

Many people who embrace the Whole Wheat path, find that food becomes more affordable, more meaningful and more nourishing to both body and spirit.  The chore of preparing meals becomes an opportunity for time alone with your thoughts... like a zen meditation.  For some, preparing meals becomes family time, parent and child cooking together, learning together, trying new things that either alone wouldn't venture to attempt.  

The Whole Wheat path isn't just for Pastafarians.  It's for people of all walks of life, of all backgrounds.  It's an opportunity to expand one's way of thinking about the most central part of existence - food.


One more thing.  In the book The Revolution will not be Microwaved, Katz says,

...my passion for food is not at all abstract.  Food is the stuff of our most basic material reality.  Food nurtures us, comforts us, and structures our lives.  Our daily habits and routines revolve around it.  It is fully sensual, composed of smells, flavours, textures, and aftertastes.  Eating is a full-body experience, involving the nose, the mouth, the hands, the teeth, the tongue, the throat, the vast array of internal sensations relating to digestion, and the renewing pleasure of defecation.

If the food we consume is all of this, how can eating not be an act of devotion?  No matter which deity or divine influence permeates your life, what you eat honours, or dishonours that divinity.  


Then there is the whole eating pasta on Fridays and brewing aspects...but that's a whole different conversation. 

I did put my pirate hat on for that, but I admit, I couldn't find my eye patch - for those of you who know the Pastafarian dogma.

Pasta Day - Garlic pasta with garden fresh salad

Garlic pasta is basically noodles, garlic lightly fried in butter and cheese.  The salad is cucumbers and tomatoes from the garde, with a few balls of mini motza (bocconcini?), sprinkle of salt and a generous helping of olive oil.

I think that I would like to start posting (and therefore taking photos of) my Friday pasta meals.  I think it would inspire me to make more beautiful food and explore a greater variety of pasta sauces.

Kitchen Failure - homebrew beer from a tin and a digression into a Pastafarian world view

Perhaps it is true what they say, alcohol leads to spiritual contemplation.  A failed attempt to brew beer at home, has lead to some...sigh, well...the blog title suggests there will be occasional jaunts into the more religious aspects of the kitchen... feel free to skip this one if you aren't in the mood for...um...this...

Here is where I dress myself in full pirate regalia, eyepatch included, for it was said that one shall not discuss the details of the religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster unless one is dressed in the Holy Garb.

Pastafarian literature tells us that there is a heaven, and in heaven there is a beer volcano.  An unlimited supply of beer is all well and good, but an actual volcano?  Call me...um... call me someone who doesn't follow the dogma of a religion to it's extreme, but I don't imagine how a volcano that spews unlimited amounts of liquid brew into the eternal resting place of my soul, would be a good thing.  I know, I know, heaven isn't suppose to be logical, but wouldn't an unending flow of beer eventually fill up heaven?  I mean, how can we drink enough to prevent the constant deluge from becoming a flood, when we are dead?

The Whole Wheat approach to the subject of beer is a bit different.  We love the idea of drinking beer on Fridays, the holy day of those who follow the teachings of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  Beer goes great with pasta and many other things.  But maybe, the volcano of beer is a metaphor for how to live our lives better in this world. 

The Whole Wheat Pastafarian looks at beer much the way we look at food, only with more importance.

  The Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world in which we live in, and being a deity that resembles food (or that we have a food that resembles the divine), the Whole Wheat Pastafarian believes that this is a sign from his divine noodliness that it is our duty in life to create the best foodstuff that we possibly can.  Be this cooking at home, or growing the best ingredients, whatever our path in life, the Whole Wheat Pastafarian holds sacred the creation of food, not just for today, but we also believe that it is our duty to keep the world as healthy as possible so that future generations can also enjoy the same, or better, dietary connection to the divine that we feel every day.  Some may say that it's not much different than the bread and wine that Christian followers believe.  In fact I've seen some of the more evangelical members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster may go much further than that, but they are, um, more extreme in their religious view.  The Whole Wheat Pastafarian would never go that far, as moderation is the key to keeping a healthy diet, healthy soil and healthy relationships with others.

To create healthy food, we need to create a healthy food source.  Good tasting food that nourishes the body and spirit, comes from healthy farming practices.  It is more complicated than I'm going to go into here, but basically it comes down to healthy soil.  Healthy soil means that we grow delicious food for ourselves and can continue to produce food to feed the world for generations to come.  The second most holy task the Whole Wheat Pastafarian can set themselves in this world is to grow food (especially grains that make yummy pasta) in a way that improves the soil over time so that whomever comes next, can have a better starting place than their predecessor.  This stands in stark contrast to those who have lost their ways, and the vast wastelands that now exist where before, was fertile soil only a generation ago.  

The Whole Wheat Pastafarian follows a different path, so that through successive generations, the ground grows stronger, produces better crops of grains and soil to grow more and more... and so on and so forth...putting an end to humanity caused desertification (instead focusing on dessertification - as in two s's - pass another slice of chocolate cake please)

But that's simply the second most holy of tasks a Pastafarian can seek in their life... 

Whole Wheat Pastafarians are very quiet on the internet, most of them are too busy growing food or cooking it to spend time chatting in the virtual world.  However, I suspect that those who feel the touch of His Noodly Appendage most strongly in this world, pursue the art of brewing beer.  Perhaps, and I speculate here, this is where the symbol of the Beer Volcano comes in -  a powerful brimming over of potential and spiritual intoxication.  I know I feel a compulsion to brew my own beer... but not only that, to grow my own barley, to malt it at home, to select the hops or other herbs to bitter the brew, to capture the miracle of wild yeast that lives invisibility in the air around us, to... to recapture that once true spiritual calling that accompanied brewing.  Be it the monasteries of the middle ages, the Bacchanalian cults of the ancient Greeks, be it the touch of His Noodly Appendage into my soul... I want to make beer, from scratch soil.

So I bought a tin.

That's probably where I went wrong.  Short cuts.  But I'm not yet ready to invest in a from-soil method of brewing.  The timing just isn't right.

I followed the instructions on the back of the tin.

I got something that smells like beer but tastes like old socks.  It's good enough to cook with, but not much else.

Maybe homebrew beer from a tin is not for me.  Maybe I should just stick to cooking and brewing apple cider... or maybe an opportunity will present itself in the future, encouraging me to try again.  Maybe I'll call it divine intervention, or perhaps I'll call it a happy circumstance.  

On a different note, I was asked recently is the Flying Spaghetti Monster made from whole wheat pasta or white pasta?  Although we cannot know the true nature of the divine, our minds being limited by our experiences in this world and lacking the necessary enlightenment to understand the composition of the divine, I can only say this: You cannot make white flour without starting from the whole grain.  So even white flour contains a kernel of the true nature of god.  (apologies for the excessive corniness.)

pasta bolagna

 Pasta Bolognese, or pasta bolagna as some people I know call it, is one of my favourite sauces.   It's perfect for after a long stressful week.  I kick everyone out of the kitchen, blast some music and make my favourite dinner.  There is usually enough sauce left over for later, and it only improves in taste the next day.

I use the recipe from Jamie Oliver's book Jamie's Food Revolution , with a few small changes (of course).  I'm not going to write out exactly what I do for this recipe because I think that everyone should go out and acquire a copy of this book.  It's my favourite recommendation to those new in the kitchen.  Just about every recipe uses things that (should be) are already in a standard kitchen.  There's no running around town searching for that specific olive that you will never use again.  In stead, this book is good, wholesome, everyday, easy to do, cooking.

Hurry up, I'm hungry.

well, if I'm putting wine in the sauce, why not poor a glass for the cook?

mess in place, or whatever the 'real' cooks call it

Today I used 1/2 pound of ground goat, and 1/2 pound of ground pork.  Omitted the celery, added extra garlic, used 1 large sweet onion instead of two regular ones, used goat cheese instead of parmesan, replaced the water with red wine, and changed the spices.

I don't have any dry oregano on hand, or any fresh basil.  So instead, I used fresh thyme.  This was amazing!  I kept taking photos trying to capture how great this was when frying up, but then I realized, it wasn't the image I was trying to capture but the smell.  Finely chopped fresh time with onions and bacon sizzling in a pan filling the house with the overwhelming feeling that a master chef had come to call.  I wish I could capture it and share it with you.

can you smell the bacon?
Such a small amount but makes all the difference
Veg and herbs waiting patiently to one side for their turn

This is what I'm talking about with the smell of the thyme.

steamy kitchen love

But other than those minor changes, I think I followed the recipe pretty close for a change.

Usually I would like to make fresh pasta with this sauce, but there wasn't enough room in the kitchen, so I did the next best thing:

Affordable cooking: oh, that depends on how much you pay for the meat.  Personally I have an extreme distrust of ground meat, so I spend extra money and only get it from somewhere I trust.  About $1 to $1.50 for veg and herbs, $3 for the tomatoes, let's say another $4 for meat = about $8.  This will server at least 6 generous servings, and this particular pasta costs about 50 cent for a serving.  That's about $1.80 to $2 per serving.  Which considering how incredibly yummy this is, isn't half bad.

Allergy friendly:  there are some potential problems with the dairy and some people have sensitivity to garlic, &c.  But so long as you can include the onions, tomatoes, and meat, the recipe is actually easy to adjust for allergies.

This is neither vegan or vegetarian friendly.  I've seen quite a few vegan versions of this sauce, but quite frankly, the meat substitute tends to distract from the overall taste.  If I wanted to cook a rich tomato sauce for a vegan or vegetarian, I would grab a good cookbook and start again from scratch instead of trying to imitate meat.  There are so many good vegan friendly pasta sauce recipes out there.  But that's just my
opinion.

 

Nuka Pickle Vat delicious followed by troubleshooting

After five days of stirring twice a day, my nuka vat finally smelled like nuka.  For the first try I used Albanian cucumbers and carrots, both fresh from the garden.

After stirring the vat, place the veg on top and press them in.  then cover the veg with the paste.

You still have to mix the paste twice a day, even with the veg in it.  But just make sure you cover them up again if they aren't ready to eat yet.


Before I put any veg in the vat, I usually rub them with a sprinkle of salt and leave them for half an hour to sweat.  Then I dry them off carefully with a paper towel and put them in the vat.  In theory this will stop the nukazuke from being too wet and going off.  In theory.

Troubleshooting my Nukazuke vat

It's now been ten days since I first started my vat.  This morning when I opened it up to stir, I was greeted by a sweet and sour smell and a puddle of liquid forming in the vat.  What!  No!  How can it go bad already?  I've only got three helpings of pickles out of it.

Great sadness overwhelmed me.  'It must be Tuesday', I though, 'I never could get the hang of Tuesdays'.

I've been dedicated in stirring it twice a day, so I can't imagine it went bad from neglect (like my commercial nuka paste usually does).  Could it be I didn't add enough salt?  Am I using too many cucumbers and it's making the vat wet?  Does the world of fermented foodstuff simply hate me?

Time to consult Google.

 Troubleshooting your Nukazuke Vat and Nukamiso Guide were very helpful.

It's possible I've been keeping it too air tight.  So I discarded the cling wrap and left it covered by one poorly fitting plate for a lid.  Hope the flies don't get in.

I'll mop up the moisture with a paper towel (wish I had read this before stirring the moisture into the vat again) and stir it three times a day instead of twice.

I don't use any strong soaps or lotions on my hands, and always give them an extra rinse before siring the vat, so I don't think that's the problem.

I have plenty of eggs here on the farm, so I'll see what I can do about adding eggshells.  Most old household manuals suggest dry frying the shells before grinding them to kill any bacteria, but this article just says use 'clean' ones, whatever that means.  I'm pretty desperate to save this, so I'll give it a try.

Hope this can be saved!  I love nuka more than any other way of eating vegetables.  I'll be praying to his divine noodliness for guidance with this challenge.




Anyone out there have their own nuka pickle vat?  Please feel free to share some suggestions.  I would welcome all the help I can get.

Bento Snack - onigiri with pickles

When it's hot like this, I do all my cooking as early in the day as possible.  Even though I'm home all day, I still make myself a few bento meals.  I find it very difficult to digest solid food when I'm overheated, so I try to make the tastes as mild and appealing as possible.

Today's bento: one onigiri (rice ball) with ume plum and nori wrap, one yakionigiri with tuna mayo filling and a side of Nuka Pickles.

Nice, simple, slightly colourful but not overwhelming.

Just so you know, I didn't eat the tuna-mayo onigiri.  I forgot that both fish and mayo spoil really quickly when stored at 35degrees C.  Just one bite was enough to know this is not safe for my stomach.

These are my first pickles in my new nuka vat.  They are okay and there is a defiantly a nuka favour there, but I think it needs to mature a few more days before it's ready.

I love how the optional inner section of this box has an almost leek proof lid for keeping the flavours separate




And for those of you wondering why it's Friday and I'm not eating pasta: Being a dedicated Pastafarian does not mean that I can only eat pasta on Fridays (our holy days), but rather that we must consume at least some pasta on Fridays (and beer, the beer is just as important).  Besides there are many lapsed Pastafarians who do not eat noodles every Friday.  It's a matter of personal preference.

For those who are super-curious, tonight will be a late night helping of garlic pasta with a side of spicy sausage and any left over veg (mostly fennel kimpura and pickles) that I can find in the fridge.

A fresh start

Welcome to The Adventures of a Whole Wheat Pastafarian.

It's a blog about food.


Myself?  I am a farm girl who absolutely adores cooking.  Doing the dishes, on the other hand, that I don't enjoy so much.

I belive that what you eat is a statement of who you are and where you see yourself belonging in this world.  Food can be an expression of your religion, your culture, your heritage, your likes, your health, your social status, you age, the current trends, your political values, your environmental conciousness, or simply how busy you are in a day.

Every bite consumed is an expression of yourself.

Eating is the one thing that everyone must do to survive, but what we eat... well, that's the interesting part.  Most of us have a choice of what to eat, some of us do not.  For those of us with choices, how many take the time to think about what food they choose to eat says about themselves?

Do you take the time to grow the food yourself, nourishing each seed, harvesting it at just the right moment at the peak of flavour, then preparing it with care, cooking it slowly to savour the flavours, and then savouring each mouthful?  Or are you so busy, you grab the closest drive through fast food meal you can?  Can you tell which one I like better?  I imagine most people these days are somewhere in between, they want to eat healthy, delicious, affordable food, but can't find the time to make it.


Some of you might be wondering "What's with the Pastafarianism thing?  Isn't that a joke or atheist or something?"   Pastafarians are people who follow the teachings of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  Aside from being respectful and tolerant of all people in the world, eating pasta and drinking beer on Fridays (the Pastafarian holy day), and dressing up like a pirate from time to time, there isn't much else to being a Pastafarian.

A Whole Wheat Pastafarian believes that by having a food based deity (or a food based on a deity) is a sign that one should focus their efforts on creating delicious and wholesome foodstuff.  Some might take up profession as a cook, other's have their own garden.  Myself, I focus on caring for the soil.  All life begins with soil.  Healthy dirt makes for sustainable agriculture, healthy plants and healthy people.  Or, to go the other way: Good food starts with good ingredients, which come from sustainable agricultural practices.  A Whole Wheat Pastafarians believes that it is our divine gift to be entrusted with the land that gives us food, and we are responsible for leaving this gift in a better state than when we received it.

Whole Wheat Pastafarianism is a bit more hard core than your regular pasta based religious calling.  It's an entire lifestyle choice.  It's not just something you do on Fridays as an excuse to drink beer - although there's nothing wrong with that in my opinion - it's an holistic way of approaching the world that includes the occasional drinking of beer.  To put it in the jargon of our times: Whole Wheat Pastafarianism is The Slow Food Movement, meets the Environmental Movement, meets the Buy Local movement, meets the Sustainable Agriculture Movements, meets the Organic Movement, with a pinch of Hippie tossed in for seasoning.

Sometimes Pastafarianism get's a bit political, especially when associated with education, but I'm not interested in all that.  I would much rather focus on food and avoid all that gobbly gook.  For that reason, all comments will be moderated.


I do actually consider myself a Pastafarian, but how seriously I take it, well that's my little secret.

Welcome to my blog,
Ramen