Easing into Autumn – Cheesy Lentil Hash August 29, 2011

After a June of cold rain and a July of sweltering humidity, we’ve finally got those ideal days of blue skies that are warm enough for shorts, but make you reach for long sleeves at night.  With great delight, I am pushing aside summer salads and grilling.  I am ready to be gently re-acquainted with my oven.  This recipe is one of my absolute favorites.

Filling, cheesy, high energy, and good if you’re craving something with a salty flavor, this is easy to whip up.  Enjoy with warm tortillas, tortilla chips or as a side to any dinner. It also packs well, and is a great bring-your-own lunch.

Nutrients: Red lentils are reported to contain fiber, folate, magnesium and iron.

CHEESY LENTIL HASH

1 vegetable bouillon cube or 2 teaspoons of granular bouillon

3 1/2 – 4 cups water

1/2 cup split red lentils (must be red, not green or brown.)

1 Tablespoon soy sauce. (Or Tamari, which is gluten free.)

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely sliced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons tomato paste (Did you know you can freeze leftover tomato paste in a Ziplock bag?)

3 1/2 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Dissolve the bouillon cube in 3 1/2 cups boiling water. Stir well.  Add the lentils.  Bring to a boil again, then reduce the heat and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, adding more water if necessary, until all the liquid is absorbed and the lentils are soft.

Meanwhile, heat the soy sauce and 1/4 cup water in a saute’ pan.  Add the onions, celery, and garlic and saute’  for 8-10 minutes, or until soft.  Add the lentils and the tomato paste to the pan.  Heat, stirring, until piping hot.

Transfer to a baking dish and sprinkle with the cheese.  Heat under a hot broiler for about 2 minutes, until the cheese begins to melt.  Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6

Credit: This recipe is from “The High Energy Cookbook” by Rachael Anne Hill

 

 

Cool Breezes July 28, 2011

Hot, humid, shut the door, turn on the AC sweet July.  Here’s a bit of what I’m dipping into to stay cool!

Frozen Granitas

Pour juice, sweetened tea, or nearly any kind of beverage into a freezer-friendly container. I use Ziploc containers because I know they’ll keep me from spilling on the way in and out of the freezer.

After about an hour, take your granita out of the freezer and scrape the frozen sides down and stir into the middle.  Repeat after another 30 minutes to an hour a couple of times until there are flakes of ice throughout and you’re ready for cool, sweet refreshment.  Depending on the size of the container, allow 2-5 hours for freezing.

Alternatively, create a simply syrup of 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water by heating until the sugar is dissolved.  Add to taste to freshly squeezed lemon juice or other fruit juices. Freeze as above.

Home-made Popsicles   

Take the same as above and freeze in popsicle holders.  If you don’t have popsicle holders, freeze in paper cups covered with aluminum foil with a popsicle stick inserted through the middle.

Experiment with adding simply syrup to your juice, blended fruit, whole berries, kiwi slices, or your tea of choice to get the flavoring you like.  I don’t particularly like highly sweetened juices.  Lately, I’ve been going with 8 ounces of unsweetened coconut juice, mixed with the juice of one freshly-squeezed lime and chopped fresh mint, with but a tablespoon or so of simple syrup.  Restorative on a hot day after a bike ride.

Watermelon

Buy a big seedless watermelon. Chop into bite-sized pieces. Store what you can in a refrigerator-friendly container. Freeze the rest on a flat tray lined with saran wrap and covered with saran wrap. Once frozen, store in a Ziploc bag, then blend, frozen, to create an instant watermelon slushie.

Cucumber slices in water    

Peel and slice fresh cucumber. Drop slices into a pitcher. Fill with fresh, cold water. Refrigerate.

Get creative: sometimes I add slices of lime or sprigs of mint. Go with what calls you.

Pickles

I don’t know why. Something about the saltiness, the coolness of the refrigerated jar, makes me crave pickles in summer.  I keep a jar in the fridge all throughout the summer.

 

Summer Break June 12, 2011

So glad you stopped by.  Web sites are taking on a greater presence in my day job lately so my creativity has been landing there, rather than here.  But I’ll be back.  In the meantime, please enjoy some of my favorite summer recipes!

Ukrainian Gazpacho

Cannellini all’ Insalata

Marvelous Meusli

Favorite Summer Salsa

Curried Quinoa

Homemade Granola Bars April 11, 2011

I’ve always been intimidated by recipes for homemade granola bars.  I was suspicious that they’d turn out hard.  Sometimes they called for ingredients I don’t like.  But the recipe below seems just right.  It’s flexible.  Any type of dried fruit or nut will do.  It’s easy to halve the recipe, or double it, if you like.  I admit my bars did not cut into perfect squares, but I was not deterred.  They crumbled a bit, but were moist and chewy.  It’s delightful on its own, or sprinkled over fresh fruit and plain yogurt

HOMEMADE GRANOLA BARS

• • 2 cups quick rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup almond flour or wheat germ
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 cup dried apricots, chopped
  • 1 cup nuts (walnuts, pecans, peanuts, sunflower seeds)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 9″ x 13″ pan with wax or parchment paper. Stir together the oats, brown sugar, almond flour, dried cranberries, apricots, nuts, salt, and cinnamon in large bowl, being sure to break up any clumps of sugar or dried fruit. Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, mix the honey, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla. Pour over the dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown.

Remove from the oven and lift the wax or parchment paper from the pan. Let the granola slab cool for 5 minutes before removing the paper and cutting into bars.

Cool completely before eating or wrapping.

GLUTEN FREE: Be sure to buy oats from a plant that does not process wheat or other gluten containing products.  Do not use wheat germ.

Thank you to KitchenDaily.com for sharing this! (The above version is a slight modification of theirs.) http://www.kitchendaily.com/recipe/granola-bars-150114/#ixzz1JFKSXP2i

Follow the Nutrients February 15, 2011

When you crave something, have you ever thought that maybe it’s the nutrients in that food that you’re craving? Sometimes, if you stop and think about what nutrients ARE in the foods you’re craving, you can then start to look for super healthy foods that have the same nutrients.  For instance, if you crave a hamburger, maybe your body is telling you it needs more iron.  But if you don’t want the fat associated with a burger, perhaps you could have a big spinach salad.  This week, I’m amused to find I’m craving spinach, mushrooms and eggs.  Is it because I’ve been indoors so much? Do I need more vitamin D (eggs)?  Do I need more potassium (mushrooms)?

So I brought home a bag of baby spinach salad, a package of sliced mushrooms and a dozen eggs.  As soon as I got home, I made a dish of pasta covered in sauteed mushrooms, garlic and onions, added to canned tomatoes.  The spinach was added during the last moment of cooking; just enough to wilt it ever so slightly.  Delicious!

The next day I made a fresh salad of spinach, raw mushrooms, chunks of thawed mango from a Trader Joe’s frozen pack, sliced almonds and dried cranberries.  Topped with a boiled egg, I was in heaven.  A salad like this is wonderful with a poppy seed dressing, blue cheese, or an Asian ginger/sesame blend.

It just so happened that there was enough of each to last at least another day, so the next dish was an omelet of sauteed mushrooms, and lightly sauteed spinach.  Each meal less than 15 minutes, except for the actual boiling of the pasta.  (More like 20 minutes; not too bad.)

February Favorites January 28, 2011

Salt on the roads.  Salty stews. I can’t take it anymore! By the looks of the searches bringing readers here, it seems I am not alone.

This week, my favorite foods were fresh avocado, fresh ruby-red grapefruit, and frozen mango chucks from Trader Joe’s.

Sweet relief.  They are restoring.  The avocado I ate straight out of the shell, although it would be perfect on a salad of Romaine lettuce, grapefruit sections, red onion, feta cheese and balsamic dressing.  To the grapefruit I added honey and warmed it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.  Alternately, you could put it under the broiler for 3-5 minutes.

The mango? Heavenly.  Briefly thawed with the help of a microwave, then topped with plain, whole-fat yogurt, it made my day.  When fresh produce looks like it could be better, don’t hesitate to go with frozen.  The flash freezing techniques in use today keep berries, mangoes and vegetables nutrient rich.   They are a great shortcut when you want to maximize flavor yet get food without additives.

A Treasure Trove of Shortcuts January 22, 2011

I am all about fresh AND easy.  The freezer is my friend.  Check out these “secret ingredient” freezer shortcuts from Edward Schneider’s column and accompanying comments in The New York Times.  A few I’d like to try:

• Onions, tomatoes and garlic cooked down into a paste.  Freeze in small containers and use as a base for paella.
• Home-made pesto frozen into ice cube trays.  Thaw and toss with pasta.
• Chopped garlic and ginger frozen together.  Use as a base for stir fry.

Calories vs. Nutrition January 2, 2011

Nutrition, long forgotten, is making a come back.  Left in the dust by meaningless calorie counting, nutrition waited quietly in the background as people became distracted with calories, neglected to feed themselves well, got sick, then became dependent on prescription drugs.  A sad cycle.

This past year, nutrition finally began to get the attention it deserves.  Michael Pollan’s book, “In Defense of Food,” released age old secrets on how to eat healthfully.  Life Time Fitness has started RevolutionaryAct. com, offering 101 revolutionary ways to be healthy.

As for myself, I continue to cook most of my own food.  I continue to pursue exercise in a form that’s fun and engaging, to the point I forget I’m working out. Why? Because working out CAN be entertaining.  You won’t catch me on a treadmill, no.  You WILL catch me on a bike trail outdoors, cross-country skiing, or in a yoga class.

The benefits? I feel good.  I’m still a size 2.  I break away from computers/media while working out, which allows me to hear my own thoughts.  An hour a day of connecting with how I’m feeling emotionally is a great deterrent to depression or seasonal affective disorder. (I live in a winter-dark climate.)

So pick a starting point and see what happens if it become a habit! Here are some ideas:

• Take a 20-minute walk outdoors at least once a week.
• Unplug from media, cell phones, computers etc. for 30 minutes each day.
• Start carrying strategic snacks with you, like almonds, dried apricots and chocolate.  (Yes, I consider chocolate a health food.)
• Buy fresh fruit in season, when it tastes good and prices are down.  I find that apples and oranges sold individually are generally of better quality than pre-packaged bags.
• Pick up one new fruit or vegetable to try each time you shop.
• Put nutrition first!
• Quit counting calories.
• Go for food in its natural, unprocessed form.

How to save time shopping & cooking November 7, 2010

So many people ask me how to break out of bad eating habits.  They say they don’t have time to cook.  They eat out often, or rely on convenience foods.  Cooking seems intimidating.  One trick that’s helped me is to take note of what foods I’m craving.  Barbecue? Macaroni and cheese? One of mom’s favorite recipes?

Most foods are only “bad” if they’re mass produced and filled with additives.  Almost any home-made version cuts the chemicals, and allows you to customize the flavor to your liking.

If you have a recipe, it’s not hard to put all the ingredients on a shopping list.  Pick up all you need, then set aside one day of the week or month (whichever fits your schedule), and make your recipe.  Actually, most things can be doubled, so make a large batch to ensure left-overs.  Left-overs are only bad if they weren’t that great the first time around.  Lots of foods, especially stews, get better after sitting a day or two in the fridge.  Or freeze the extra in small containers large enough for just one or two servings, only.  That way, you’ll always have something good on hand to grab and take along to work.

Some foods that work well as large batches:

• Barbecued chicken
• Roast beef
• Home-made vegetable soup
• Chicken paprikash
• Beef stroganoff
• Macaroni and cheese
• Egg bake/egg casseroles
• Steel cut oatmeal

What is “Clean” Eating? October 10, 2010

I noticed a new magazine on a news stand: “Clean Eating.”  The inside description states that clean eating is not a diet, but a lifestyle. It’s about consuming food in its most natural state.

That’s a philosophy that’s worked for me for years!  If you cut out processed foods, you really can eat anything you want. It’s smart, and nutritious. It gets to that, “Would you rather pay the grocer or the doctor?” philosophy.  Why take in all those processed foods toxins, only to wake up with a disease, body damage, surgery or worse later in life?

I welcome this magazine.  Here’s a link to its website: www.cleaneatingmag.com