And, in addition to being delectable as a stand alone cake you can also use it instead of biscuits if you want to bring your Strawberry Shortcake up a notch or two. And this is especially true if you typically use an instant biscuit or (gasp) some of those shortcake things with the divot on top that are mass produced and sold in the supermarkets. .. “Step away from these biscuit-things and get into your kitchen”. … Anyway, here we go..

Shopping List (what I used is listed, non-organic counterparts will work fine as well):

• Butter: Organic – 4 tablespoons
• Eggs: Organic – 4 (this is what the recipe calls for but have some extra on hand in case you have separation issues (separating the whites from the yokes that is)
• Flour: Organic Cake Flour, Unbleached – 1 1/4 cups
• Salt: Unrefined Sea Salt – Pinch
• Sugar: Unrefined Granulated – 2/3 Cup + 2 tablespoons
• Vanilla Extract: Organic – 2 teaspoons

Equipment List:

• Bowls for separating the eggs: Clean (totally free of grease) and Dry. Three required. The bowl for the yokes should be a good sized hand mixing bowl (other ingredients will be added), the bowl for the egg whites should be your hand whisking or electric mixer bowl (if you’re using an electric mixer to whisk the egg whites) and the third bowl is a “holding bowl” used to inspect a just separated egg white for any traces of yoke (explanation below)
• Mixer with whisk attachment or of course, a whisk
• Pan- 10″ round x 2″ deep
• Whisk for the Egg Yokes
• Spatula: Rubber

 Preliminaries:

• Set oven rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 350F
• Butter the bake pan all around
• Dust the bake pan with flour, set aside
• Measure out 4 tablespoons of butter, place in saucepan and set aside for later (do not put on the heat at this time)
• Measure out 2/3 Cups of Granulated Sugar, set aside
• Measure out 2 teaspoons of Vanilla Extract, set aside
• Measure out 2 tablespoons of Granulated Sugar, set aside
• Measure out 1 1/4 cups of Flour, set aside
• Separate 4 Eggs using the three bowls. Capture the white in bowl#1, toss the Yoke in bowl#2. If the White is clean with no bits of Yoke transfer to bowl#3 this is your bowl for holding the Egg Whites that will be whisked (this should be the electric mixing bowl if you are using a mixer to whisk the Egg Whites). Toss any Egg Whites that have been contaminated with Yoke and try again. The Egg Whites do not mount as well if there is any Yoke, Moisture or Greasy Residues. At the end of this operation you should have a bowl with 4 Egg Yokes and a bowl with 4 clean (Yoke-Free) Egg Whites

The Recipe:

• Take the saucepan with the 4 tablespoons of Butter and put on a medium heat. Melt the Butter and be careful that it doesn’t brown. Once melted. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool
• Whisk the Egg Yokes and gradually add the 2/3 cups of Granulated Sugar and then add the 2 teaspoons of Vanilla Extract. The result will be a thick Yoke mixture that forms a ribbon on the whisk. Don’t worry too much about this just make sure everything is whisked together nicely
• Add a pinch of Salt into the Egg Whites and using either a hand whisk or an electric mixer with a whisk attachment whip the Egg Whites until “soft peaks are formed”. Gradually add in the 2 tablespoons of Granulated Sugar and continue to whisk “until stiff peaks are formed”
• Using the rubber spatula scoop out about 1/4 of the peaked Egg Whites and add to the Yoke and Sugar mixture
• Place about 1/4 of the Flour into a sifter and sift into the Yoke and Sugar mixture
• Using the rubber spatula gently fold the ingredients together. Be gentle on the egg whites. Don’t over-mix, if anything slightly under-mix at this point
• Now scoop out 1/3 of the the egg whites and add to the yoke mixture
• Sift in 1/3 of the flour you have left into the yoke mixture
• Gently Fold in (being a nudge here, be gentle, don’t over-mix but most importantly don’t stress & have fun (you’re doing fine)
• Repeat adding 1/2 of the remaining Egg Whites and Flour (sifted). Fold ingredients together
• Add the remaining Eggs Whites and Flour(sifted). Fold In
• Add half of the Butter you had previously put aside (this should be just a little warm at this point). Fold in
• Add the remaining Butter and fold in (but if you can leave out the white residue you’ll see in the saucepan)
• Pour/coax the folded Batter into the baking pan
• Gently spread out by tilting the pan and using your rubber spatula to spread it out
• Place pan with cake mixture into the preheated oven
• Bake for 30-35 min. A knife inserted should come out Batter-Free when done
• Remove the baked Cake and let it cool a bit in the pan for about 8 minutes
• Run a knife on the sides of the pan (be gentle if you’re using a Teflon Coated Pan)
• Put a cooling rack on top of the Cake and flip over. If the Cake doesn’t come free just tap the bottom of the baking pan to help it along
• Place another cooling rack on the now exposed bottom of the Cake and flip. Remove the cooling rack from the top and let cool.

There you have it. The first time might be a little stressful because you’re using folded Egg Whites instead of Baking Powder as the leavening agent but by the second time you’ll really begin to like this method. .. Now, you can have this cake as is, add a topping (Julia recommends Powdered Sugar, Apricot Glaze, Butter Cream or Chocolate Icing) or use it to create the Ultimate Strawberry Shortcake. Note that this cake freezes extremely well. … When I make Strawberry Shortcakes with it I’ll generally bake the cake ahead, cool well, and then wrap tightly with plastic wrap and freeze until the morning of the big day.

This is simple goodness that unfortunately the packaged cake crowd will never really know. I love to relax after dinner with a cup of French Roast or an Espresso and a piece or two of this cake. Slow, relaxing, all natural enjoyment. Hope you find this simple pleasure as well.

Anyway, we bought a non-organic cabbage and compare it against it’s healthy organic cousin ( and no, I refuse to say head to head).

Well, the first thing we noticed is that the Organic variety looks more real, alive and fresh. The non-organic cabbage on the right looks like it’s had a hard life. Lots of chemicals and not enough clean living. Actually it looks like a tired old man and that’s a sad thing to see. But am I sure I want to eat that thing?

Yeah I’m sure that I don’t. … This guy has nothing to offer me but trouble. Nothing I can prove mind you, but he just makes me uncomfortable. Anyway, here’s some background on the life of some non-organic cabbages. First, growing up on these massive farms they are targeted by a variety of nasties including (the cabbage looper, diamondback moth, imported cabbageworm etc…). And these pests are smart. For instance “Most of the eggs of the foliage feeding caterpillars are laid on the under-surfaces of the leaves and the larvae, until mature tend to feed on the underside of the foliage..”. So to combat this “Insecticides should be sprayed in high volume solutions …” “… at high pressure…” and “… spreading and sticking agents should also be used to improve coverage.” (the complete page from the University of Kentucky is here). … And then after this war is fought the cabbage is sent to our local supermarkets.

Now, in contrast the Organic cabbage is one lucky beast. No artificial fertilizers and no insecticides. Living cleanly off the natural land. The living was good and it shows. Just look at this guy. Isn’t that one good looking head of organic cabbage? And these good looks go beyond being just skin deep. No chemicals on it, no chemicals in me and I like that. And this is especially important for cabbage which is probably the most commonly eaten raw veggie due to the invention of coleslaw (and actually for most people the ONLY raw veggie that will ever touch their lips). And, you know as well as I do, that the average cook is not going to do a great job of washing leaves prior to shredding (and they might not even wash it at all). … SO… I’d just say no to coleslaw unless it’s organic (you know, maybe this should be your “go to” volunteer dish).

Now you should go organic because you and your family deserve it.  Also, please learn to respect this blahsay vegetable on St Patty’s Day and throughout the rest of the year as well. After all, Broccoli, Kale and Cauliflower are just a few veggies that are nothing more than selective breeding of cabbage. Yes my friends, you may already love cabbage but it’s just a funky variety of it with a different name.

Now if you like this post and think of some else would too (or they make the cold slaw) please share it with them & help spread the word. Hopefully 2010 readership will continue to grow and provide some level of support to free up time to work on www.OrganicTestKitchen.com and another cooking site. And also, thanks so much for all your support throughout these years. Have a great day!

Now Della did not specify Organic “This” or Organic “That” in her recipe simply because everything was organically grown back then. But unfortunately, now we must, since we really have two classes of foods to choose from. One could say ”old-school vs. chem lab” but I won’t … so everything organic and please hold the pesticides.

Anyway, here’s what we did. Since Della’s recipe like many in the day does not call out for specific measurements of ingredients we ran an experimental baking with a mini Apple Dowdy. This was put together and baked in a 5″x5″ x 1.5″ deep Le Creuset (a very fine baking dish by the way).

• Preheat your oven to 325F 
• Peel and cut into pieces 2 medium apples. One Macintosh and one Granny Smith (following the same path for taste, texture and tartness that we do for our Apple Pie).
• Place the cut apples in the baking dish, this just filled ours.
• Sprinkle the top with some freshly ground Nutmeg (allll-right pre ground if that’s all you have.
• Top this with a sprinkle of Cinnamon (Della tells us to use a little less than the Nutmeg so we did).
• Add a dash of Sea Salt.
• Take some unsalted butter and cut thin slices and place on top. She says to use about one teaspoon of butter per serving. We did our best but I think we put in some extra … mmm butter.
• Add a 1/4 Cup of Warm, but not Hot, Spring Water. Della called out 1/2 Cup for what we assume is a pie-sized dowdy. So we just cut it in half and added it to our little half-pint size version.

Make the Baking Powder Crust

• Take a Medium Bowl and add 1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
• Add Two Teaspoons of Aluminum Free Baking Powder (you can of course use regular “Aluminumized” stuff, it’s your health, knock yourself out).
• Add Two Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter.
• Add 1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
• Add 1/2 Cup of Whole Milk.

The Build

• Stir and spread the Baking Powder Crust over the Apple Filled Baking Dish. Try to get about 3/4″ thickness.
• Try to cut a Big “S” in the center and little slots/breathing holes several places around it.
• Place in the center rack of the Preheated Oven.
• Let bake for 3 hours. Yes, THREE Hours.

After baking remove and let set before digging in (but make sure it’s still warm). Della recommends serving on a dish and pouring on some heavy cream that has been dressed up with a little sugar and nutmeg.

Well, what did we think? As far as being easy this recipe kicks butt. It was insanely simple and quick to put together. Then while it was baking the entire house filled with this warm apple/nutmeg/cinnamony smell. Very strong and like heaven. You could almost say that you’re going to make this just to make your house smell great for company or potential home buyers. Seriously, your house will smell that good … Taste. .. There was this starchy, buttery, appley thing going on and with the fat from the heavy cream it was some really good comfort food. The only thing we wished we had done differently was to warm up the cream to further enhance the warmness of the whole treat. Just wonderful.

Now like Della says, this dessert is definitely different from a tart or pie. It’s a dowdy and nothing but a dowdy. And she was also right about this being one homely thing (this is definitely an “Ugly Betty” when compared to an apple pie with an egg wash & sugar topping). But it’s something different and a great opportunity to shake up your repertoire. As far as variations we could envision serving with a good vanilla ice cream and possibly sprinkling the top with a cinnamon sugar to bring up the sweetness. Add walnuts? That might work. And also a rum/espresso topping could be very nice as well. In short there are endless possibilities to make this a unique dish that you could call your own.

Anyway, there you have it. Hope you enjoy your apple dowdy. And we’ll look into more forgotten recipes as time goes on. Enjoy!

But, like most natural foods Popcorn has been messed with. With popcorn you have your usual problems of modern mass production methods of spraying, fertilizing etc. which may be “not-good”. Let me put it this way, I just don’t want to consume any chemicals no matter how safe they tell me they are. So in terms of chemical purity the organic popcorn is of course the slam dunk winner. … But what about taste? Let’s take a look.

In this competition we pit the cheap supermarket brand of non-organic popcorn, premium non-organic popcorn and bulk organic popcorn. We popped all three in the air popper, let them come to an equal room temperature and tested. Here’s what we found:

Texture: This is a big part of the popcorn eating experience. For this we found the supermarket brand to be, not terrible, but definitely not good. It was sort of able to crumble easily. No chewy action going on. The premium non-organic stuff had plenty of chew..and in some bites too much of the chewy bordering on a polystyrene thing going on. But, the organic popcorn had more chew than supermarket and somewhat less than premium. .. Just right as they say..  So the other guys weren’t bad but the organic was slightly better.

Taste: Supermarket…Not bad but really not-good. Premium and organic, very close and both good.

So the organic barely nudged out a win with regards to the eating experience … both organic and premium were good (just don’t waste your time with the supermarket brand). So with taste being about equal you have two other factors to consider.  The first is cost, premium is cheaper. The second is chemical residues, the organic is a purer food. Now when I did the math the amount of money saved on a bowl of popcorn wasn’t even pocket change. So I asked myself, if someone came up to me and said they’d give me this amount of change to swallow the tiniest amount of chemical would I do it? You know my answer, go organic and call it a day already.

Now if you still can’t make up your mind why not peruse the University of Kentucky’s 2009 Insecticide Recommendation for Popcorn (seriously, this is not to say all non-organic popcorn has any of these chemicals by the time it gets to you, this is just for information to give you a flavor for the world of popcorn agriculture).

 Anyway, this is a recipe previously posted but lost in the Yahoo hosting debacle (don’t get me started). I decided to move things over to another provider after this so now we’re good. Also, back to the recipe, I’ve since discovered that a slight drizzle of organic maple syrup when serving really works well as an additional flavor note with the apples and brown sugar. Test it out you may love it. .. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Shopping List:       

       6 Tablespoons of Organic All-Purpose Flour

       ½  Cup Organic Granulated Sugar

       ¼ Cup Organic Brown Sugar

       ¼ Teaspoon Organic Ground Cinnamon

       ¼ Teaspoon  of Organic Ground Nutmeg

       ¼ Teaspoon of Refined Sea Salt      

       6 Tablespoons of Organic Unsalted Butter

       ½ Cup of Organic Walnuts, Almonds or Pecans (or a combination of all
       them)

       ½ Cup of Organic Old Fashion Rolled Oats

       3 Medium Organic Granny Smith Apples

       3 Medium Organic McIntosh Apples (or as an option 2 Medium Organic
       McIntosh Apples and 1 Cup of Organic Raspberries).

       1 Medium Organic Lemon

   And, whatever you would like to serve the crisp with (in addition to the optional maple syrup). Some suggestions are:
     -Organic Vanilla Ice Cream
     -Organic Heavy Cream
     -Organic Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

Preliminary: (Measuring & Prepping the Dry Ingredients)

-Take out your food processor.

-Fluff up the Flour in it’s container using a butter knife.

-Measure & Add to the Food Processor 6 Tablespoons of All-Purpose Flour.

-Measure & Add to the Food Processor ¼ Cup of Brown Sugar (pack it into the measuring cup).

-Measure & Add to the Food Processor  ¼ Cup of Granulated Sugar.

-Measure & Add to the Food Processor ¼ Teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon.

-Measure & Add to the Food Processor ¼ Teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg.

-Measure & Add to the Food Processor ¼ Teaspoon of Salt.

-Pulse the Food Process a Few Times to get everything Mixed.

-Take a Stick of Unsalted Butter from the Refrigerator. Cut the Stick at 6 Tablespoons. Cut this in Small Slices and Add to the Food Processor.

-Pulse the Food Processor Until Everything Looks Grainy.

-Measure and Add ½ Cup of Walnuts, Almonds or Pecans (or a combination of them). If you don’t like Nuts use Old Fashion Rolled Oats.

-Measure and Add ½ Cups of Old Fashion Rolled Oats (if you used the Oats in the Previous Step Add in this ½ Cup as well).

-Pulse the Food Processor a Few Times but Remember You Want Everything Chopped and Combined & not mushed up. So don’t run the Processor Too much or You’ll End Up With this Brown Goo. So, Chop…Combine & then … Step Away From The Food Processor.

-Remove the Bowl From the Food Processor and Place it in the Refrigerator.

The Main Event (Making the Apple Mix and Baking)

-Move the Oven Rack to the Center Position. Preheat the Oven to 375F.

-Peel, Core and Cut 3 Medium Granny Smith & 3 Medium McIntosh Apples into a Large Bowl (or substitute the 3 Medium McIntosh Apples with 2 Medium McIntosh Apples and 1 Cup of Raspberries).

-Cut a Medium Lemon the Long Way in Half. Cut Each Half the Long Way Again.

-Squeeze each Quarter into a Small Separate Bowl. Fish out any seeds. Add the Lemon Juice to the Apples in the Large Bowl (pour all over the apples).

-Measure and Add ¼ Cup of Granulated Sugar to the Apple Mix.

-Toss the Apple Mix to combine everything.

-Take out a Baking Dish (Use a Pie Pan or Baking Pan. Something with Deep Enough Sides to Hold Everything and 8 to 9 Inches Across).

-Add the Apple Mixture to the Pan.

-Take the Topping out of the Refrigerator and Put on Top of the Apple Mixture. You probably will have to use your fingers. Remember Spread it around to cover the top but don’t pack in down.

-Bake for 40 minutes (but watch it to make sure you’re not running a overly hot oven that will burn it).

-Take a peek. The top should be brown but not burned. If it looks OK increase the oven to 400F and bake for 5 minutes more.

-Remove from the Oven and let it cool and gel a bit.

 Get your bowl and serve. Personally, I get my Organic Vanilla Frozen Yogurt and spread my Organic Apple Crisp all over the top. Now one of the keys is to wait until the apple crisp is not hot but warm. This of course keeps the Frozen Yogurt from Melting too fast. Then a quick/slight drizzle of maple syrup. Awesome!

 Now this is good food, real good food. No store bought piece of chemicalized “food-stuff” dessert can even come close.

Enjoy & Share this post!