Courage...The Bread of Life Section

Sunday is the day I share a little of my soul. We call it the Bread of Life section. Enjoy.

I walked through a lot of personal doors this week that took extreme strength. Strength I didn't know I even had and strength very much beyond my own power. In all honesty, some of the hardest trials you or I will ever face, will be ones in the private sanctuaries of our human soul. God, who knows and loves perfectly, has never left me alone. I'm thankful for that. Ever read a scripture and had it punch you in the forehead... proverbially of course? I've been thinking of Esther this week. She had courage. Yet, I think, when it all came down to it, she felt much the same way I did when I walked through some pretty bold doors.

Esther 4:14 says this, " For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

...and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?   When faced with seemingly overwhelming odds, Esther did what she did because ultimately she knew that the God of Israel was walking next to her through those doors. 

2 Chronicles 13:1 "And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you..."

I don't know what you are facing personally or what doors you'll have to walk through this week, but I do know that the God of Love will never leave your side. You will have the strength you need. Courage will settle in your heart, because true courage, doing what is right in spite of one's fears, is found in faith. Not just faith in the arm of flesh or things of this world...but a faith in the true and living God! That is the faith that will carry you through fire, unflinching.  Will you feel fear? Maybe. I promise if you reach out the hand of your soul and put it in the hand of God, you will be able to do what needs to be done!

There it is.
Have a blessed week.

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Radio Show links and Jan's Oatmeal Cake with Coconut Broiler Icing...Evil. Sooo good.

This is a random post, yet one that just needs to be done. I love Jan D'Atri. She's been the most amazing blessing to our family the last little while and I especially love that she always thinks to send something home with me for my kids after the radio show. Few things bring me more joy than having someone think of my babies. So, that being said, thank you Jan for the second pan of your Oatmeal Cake with Coconut Broiler Icing. I couldn't find the recipe on her website, but when I do...you all will be in trouble. 



I made the Steel-cut-oat-risotto from the blog. Mama had 3 helpings. I'm feeling really good about that. I'm not going to lie, I was really freaked out about sharing a new risotto with a true Italian. 

If you missed today's show, here is the link to the podcast... 
The Jan D'Atri Show
· Click Here to Download MP3
The Jan D'Atri Show 3-16 Hour 2

The Jan D'Atri Show
· Click Here to Download MP3
Jan D'Atri Saturday 3-16-13 Hour 1

Here's last week's:
03-09-13 4PM
· Click Here to Download MP3
Mama on TV?!

03-09-13 3PM
· Click Here to Download MP3
It's pot roast day!


Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

The All American Sun Oven Review

I purchased a NEW All American Sun Oven for our family yesterday. Yup. I had been saving my pennies since I first heard about the changes in the new oven from Paul Munsen when he came and visited us at Honeyville in Chandler.  Honestly, they haven't changed the design in 28 years and the new changes are ones that have really inspired me! 

For the next two weeks the only place in the world that they are available is through Honeyville! Though I work for Honeyville as their company chef, they didn't ask me to post this review. I'm just so stinkin' excited!! I don't think I've ever been more excited about an appliance in my life...and y'all know I cried when I got my first solar oven right?!

All American Sun Oven® is the easiest way to harness the power of the sun to cook, bake, dehydrate, or boil foods. Make delicious sun-baked foods while saving on fuel and money. With a solar oven, you don't need any fuel, just place in direct sunlight and you're ready to cook. When used correctly it can reach temperatures of 360° to 400° F in as little as 20 minutes. Solar cooking with the sun oven can be achieved in everyday cooking while in your backyard, at picnics, during a camping trip, or in the event of a power failure. Since it doesn't use a flame to cook, their is no risk in burning your food. Using the sun oven on a daily basis can save you money on gas and electricity bills. At Honeyville, we stand by the importance of emergency preparedness and recommend the sun oven for every household. Watch this video to learn more about the Sun Oven: All American Sun Oven features: Reaches Temperatures of 360° to 400° Fahrenheit! Easy sun-track indicators Extra thick Ultra White™ Transparent Glass Built in Thermometer Inside made of Food Grade Fiberglass Bake, Boil, or Steam Foods - Boil or Pasteurize Water! American made Dehydrate Fruits, Vegetables, or Jerky! Slow cook or cook similar to conventional stove tops or ovens! As Portable as a Small Suitcase - Only 22 lbs! Ruggedly Built for Years of Trouble Free Use! Totally Safe - No Danger of Fire! 20% larger than prior model SUN OVENS® Sample Cook Times Beef Roast, 2.5 lbs = 1 hour, 20 minutes Baked Chicken, 3 lbs = 1 hour, 30 minutes Bread = 45 minutes Rice = 40 minutes Chocolate Cake = 35 minutes Packaging: The Sun Oven folds up for easy carrying and weights only 22 pounds. Ships in one large box, which weighs approximately 30 pounds. Personally, I have used the original Global Sun oven many many years. After seeing and using the  All American Sun Oven all weekend, I can honestly say, without hesitation that it is remarkable! It makes focusing so much simpler. It gets hotter faster and maintains the heat exceptionally well. So far I've baked bread, a skillet fritatta and brownies...and I'm not stopping. Yes. I thought I knew a lot about solar cooking and I thought I had mastered the details, but this new oven has made it even simpler than ever before.  There you go! Always My Very Best, Your Friend Chef Tess

My Top Tips for Cooking Solar...and a NEW Sun Oven from the maker's of Global Sun Ovens!

Have you ever seen a solar oven capable of baking 28 loaves of bread an hour and up to 1200 meals a day?! Well, I've been able to see one in action the last couple of days as well as spend some quality one-on-one time with Paul Munsen, owner and founder of Sun Oven International. These villager sun ovens are used in 55 countries around the world!


I built a Bigger Bolder Sun Oven...big enough for 12 loaves, but it was not nearly as efficient or amazing as the one that I'm standing next to here in the parking lot. 

  My first solar oven experience started many years ago with just a cardboard box...and it wasn't very efficient or built-to-last as the real sun oven I use now. I cried when Ace bought me a real solar oven. 

Solar Cooking Education in TV Segments became a big part of my heart. I'm so exited to see the looks on the faces of the kiddos and the adults!

Having trouble getting your solar baked bread just right? Here are my personal favorite 
 Tips for Baking Bread in a Solar Oven!

My Favorite Solar Baked Whole Grain Rye recipe is the next one you need to hear about. Rich, moist, and perfect for the solar oven. 

What do you do when you start cooking in the solar oven and the sun goes behind the clouds? I started Using The Solar Oven as a Heat Retention Cooking tool! It works outstandingly well!

People often think they have to live somewhere warm in order to use a solar oven. Here is my experience Using a Solar Oven In The Snow! 

 I can't even talk solar without sharing  My Favorite Solar cooked Dinner from the Garden (Mom's Zucchini Casserole)!

Ever wonder How to UseYour Sun Oven as a Slow Cooker?  

Last but not least on the cooking, I have to share My Sun-dried Tomato Pesto from the solar oven!

 Now onto The NEW All American Sun Oven!
Gregg was excited to see them...but not nearly as excited as I was!

 It is the most change that has happened in the design of the sun oven in the last 28 years!

Here are the features:

What features are unique to this new Sun Oven?

There you go!

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

Almond-pistachio breakfast nutri-bars. Grain-free, gluten-free, guilt-free

A while ago I shared my delicious healthy version of Homemade whole grain Nutri-bars for breakfast.  Since then, I've learned about some lovely gluten-free, grain-free options for making these bars that also make them lower glycemic, no sugar added and completely delicious. I don't miss the sugar.  I will admit, I do miss my sanity sometimes. 

 To my dear sister Auntie Em...these are for you! I could just picture her in her little car driving past the wind and waves of the Great Salt Lake while munching one of these in the morning...and it made me smile. It also made me terribly happy. Love you girlie. Love you.

Chef Tess' Almond-Pistachio Breakfast Nut-ri Bars 

 Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups Blanched Almond Flour
1/2 cup natural pistachio butter or almond butter
1/2 cup  granular erythritol
2 Eggs (vegan omit egg and use 1/2 cup water plus 1/2 tsp xanthan gum)
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum 
1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup naturally sweetened 100% fruit jam 

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Stir wet ingredients into dry mixture until thoroughly combined. 

I make my own fruit jam but you can easily use any low calorie sugar-free fruit jam, as long as it is really fruity.  

 Oh. Special shout-out to Superior Nut Company for the divine happiness of pistachio butter . Holy cow. I'm in love.  

 Take dough and roll out on a baker's mat or an oiled baking sheet. This is a half-sheet pan. 

 Roll into a rectangle, 16 inches by 20 inches.  Cut into 4 sections, 5 inches by 16 inches each. 

 Very gently ease a long cake-spatula under the edge of the cookie and roll it over the filling, just overlapping the two sides by about half an inch. This always makes me break into singing "Roll-roll-roll your boat"...and I'm really weird. Merrily...Merrily...scarilly...scarilly...Chef Tess is insane...

Pinch them closed. cut in half. 

 Gently roll over so the logs are seam-side down. 

Bake 350 degrees 17-20 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan. 

Remove from pan and wrap for breakfast...or eat them all in one sitting. Whatever you want. 

There you go! Some awesome breakfast grabs for the very coolest ever! YOU! Onward and upward my darlings!!

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

The Mirror...The Bread of Life Section

Sunday is the day I share a little of my soul. Enjoy.

My sweet cousin Todd passed away last week. He was a very special spirit who came to earth into a very challenged physical body. He wasn't expected to live past the age of twelve, yet at almost twenty-four, he finally passed-on. I've thought a lot about that valiant, strong, angelic spirit. I was unable to travel to his funeral even though my thoughts and prayers have been with his family. Death is always a time of introspection. I read the words Russel M. Neilson said, "Be we reminded that a perfect body is not required to achieve one’s divine destiny. In fact, some of the sweetest spirits are housed in frail or imperfect bodies. Great spiritual strength is often developed by people with physical challenges, precisely because they are so challenged. "

Selfishly, I thought of how down I had been on myself, as of late, for the weight I had gained, lost, and gained. I know I need to be better at taking car of this body and being a good steward, not because  I want to look like a super-model, but because I love this gift. I love this body. With all of it's curves and imperfections...it is perfect for me. God made it that way. I realized how ungrateful I had been by criticizing myself so harshly. I need to be more gentle with myself.  I don't know about any of you, but as a recovering perfectionist, when I do make mistakes, I'm even more critical of myself. I beat myself up for making a mistake. I dwell on it.  I think I'm pretty blessed with a forgiving heart when it comes to others who offend me. However, when I look in the mirror, that is a person I've struggled to forgive.  Then while driving to work, some powerful words entered my mind..."Sometimes, of all the people in the world, the one who is the hardest to forgive—as well as perhaps the one who is most in need of our forgiveness—is the person looking back at us in the mirror." Dieter F. Uchdorf

So, my challenge to myself this week is to wake up each day full of gratitude for the gift of one more day to be alive...and the blessing of having this body. I'm not going to look in the mirror and yell to the next room, " Hey honey, do we have any industrial-grade Spackle and high-gloss epoxy in the house?" I'm going to say out loud, "Thank you dear Lord, for this beautiful body!" It won't be boasting of my own beauty, but boasting of my God who made this gift for me. It will be a better direction.  I can do that.  Onward and upward my darlings!

There it is.

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend 

Jan's Cola Pot Roast and Tess' Cola Spiced Peach and Rosemary Ham. Two Crock Dinners. One post.

Remember  My Pepper Cardamom Rubbed Pot Roast with Balsamic Glazed Sweet Potatoes?

I'm a sucker for a great Pot Roast recipe. Twice a month as a kid I remember us having a nice Sunday roast. The smell of that luxurious meat simmering in a crock-pot when we arrived home from the 3 hour Sunday church services we attended was like walking in the gates of heaven. It was always a welcomed almost intoxicating event.  There is not a smell on earth that makes me more homesick, or more comforted. That being said, when my friend Jan D'Atri shared her latest recipe that will post tomorrow in the Scottsdale Republic here in Arizona, I was excited. My mom used to use a can of Dr. Pepper with our roast and Jan's Recipe with the addition of a can of cola sounded just too close to my childhood comfort food to pass up!  I thought I'd share her recipe with you today as well as another favorite at our house for your upcoming Easter events! 

Recipe and photo courtesy of Jan D'Atri, Rescued Recipes

Jan D'Atri's Braised Pot Roast in Cola

 Ingredients:

4-5 pound boneless chuck roast or rump roast

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large sweet yellow onion, diced and sautéed

2 tablespoons FRESH garlic, minced

3 teaspoons salt, divided

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced

2 cups beef broth

1 (12 oz) can cola (I used Blue Sky All Natural Soda)

2 tablespoons organic tomato paste

2 tablespoons flour

Directions:

Season the roast on all sides by sprinkling 2 teaspoons of salt and 2 teaspoons pepper over the entire roast. Sautee diced onion in a little oil until golden brown and set aside. Heat a Dutch oven on high heat and add oil. When oil is hot,  place roast in pot and cook until browned on all sides.  Add beef broth, cola, garlic, sautéed onion, rosemary and remaining teaspoon of salt. Bring to boil, stirring to release browned bits.  Add tomato paste and stir.  For crock-pot cooking method, transfer meat and juices to crock-pot and cook on high for about 4-5 hours (or until fork tender) or cook overnight in crock-pot on low heat. For oven method, cover Dutch oven and cook at 325 degrees in the oven for 3 1/2 hours. Liquid should be at least 1/3 of the way up the roast. Add more beef broth if necessary.

To make gravy: Remove roast from pot and keep warm. Pour beef liquid through a strainer to catch onion bits, mash through and then discard remaining onions. In a bowl, add 1/2-cup hot beef liquid to  2 tablespoons of flour. Whisk to combine eliminating lumps.  Slowly whisk mixture into the remaining liquid on the pot. Whisk frequently until mixture comes to a boil. Cook for another 5 minutes or until sauce thickens. Serve roast with hot gravy.

Today's Bread-Art Photo Shoot...and a NEW Book!!

Announcing the next Chef Tess Bakeresse cookbook! 
I just signed a book-deal for a Bread Art craft and baking book! That is the next release after the Gourmet Meal in a Jar book that I'm also working on currently!

 The bread book is due to be released January of 2014!! We're super excited around here and today we had my friend  Laura Sokol, the  photographer, at my home taking pictures for 4 hours! I took these photos I'm sharing here. Hers were just amazing! I won't even tell you how many hours I baked and prepped for this first shoot. Yes, I never sleep. It's sick how hard I work, but then again, that's part of life isn't it? I love what I do. I wouldn't change a thing!   That being said,  I wanted to share some of the beautiful breads! There were many more, but here are some of my favorites... 

Goldfish sweet bread

 Sea-shell sourdough on a bed of French grey sea-salt.

 Light rye and herb star-spangled loaf.

 Yeast-raised Gingerbread and orange crown loaf.

 Garlic and herbs of the vine bread.

Fleur-de-lis for me (personal-sized French buns)

 Rye-decorative dough embellishments.

 Spot-On Bread

 Rose-petal Cardamom-infused  Sweet Ciabatta 

 Natural herb-and spice enveloped baguette tutorial

Fall herb and sweet pepper Ciabatta 

 No-Knead Fleur-de-lis

 Lavender and Lilac Rolls

 Ribbons and wrap sandwich buns

 Sweet Pea Floral Tutorial

That's just a sneak preview of many many more things to come! I love you my darlings! Thank you for your encouragement and sweet support. It is what keeps me going every single day...that being said, tonight, I'll be sleeping like a rock. It has been a wonderful day.

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess