Easy Peasey Breakfast Bars and a blogger meetup

There are a lot of great recipes out there, but the ones that have me running to the kitchen are those that have only a handful of ingredients. The recipes that are "I can make this right now" kind of easy.

So it's about time I brought you one of those, since my last recipe (though delicious) had an ingredient list to beat the band.

Today's breakfast bars are (very) inspired by these Banana Nut Bites, which were brought to my attention by Kristen at Food Renegade. The only change I made was to replace some of the nuts with seeds and oats, in the interest of saving money, and added a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. Ready? I think it will take me longer to type this than it will for you to prepare the batter:

Easy Peasey Breakfast Bars
2 ripe bananas
1 cup nuts (i used almonds)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened, dried coconut
2 eggs
cinnamon
(optional: raisins or other dried fruit)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a food processor, spin nuts and seeds down to a powder. Add oats and coconut, blend. Finally add bananas (and dried fruit if you are using, which I didn't).
3. Mix in eggs. Blend well.
4. Pour mixture into greased pie plate. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
5. Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool, then slice into bars.

These aren't particularly sweet or rich, but they are a satisfying way to start the day or good for a treat. Far better than buying power bars, the nuts and eggs in this recipe provide a good amount of protein. And for anyone with a gluten intolerance, using nuts/seeds in place of oats is the way to go.

So, aside from cooking up some breakfast bars and continuing to work on my new website (totally under construction but you can sneak peek it here), I spent some time last week with fellow blogger, NAOmni of Not Another Omnivore. She was visiting Boston so we hung out and traded secret nutrition tips. Not really. Actually, NAOmni was kind enough to spend an hour with me completing a health history consultation. It was neat to talk to someone in person after so many blog posts and comments between us! We even took a picture:



For any of you out there who are interested in the idea of holistic health counseling, I encourage you to get in touch because I do most of my work with a magical voice-throwing device. Over the phone, that is. A free initial health history consultation could be the first step towards feeling all sunshine and rainbows in your life and achieving some health goals. If you'd like to sign up for a time slot, send an email to michelle@findyourbalancehealth.com.

It's ALL vegetable, baby

It's been one heck of a busy but awesome week. For not working, I sure am working a lot. I'm starting up my business officially as Find Your Balance Health Counseling and Yoga. Like I mentioned before, the site will be up soon but until then all my blog posts will remain here on Blogger. (Conveniently, because you are already here.) And at the end of this post there is an invitation for all of you in the Boston area to come to my new Sunday Cooking Club and some info about an awesome yoga retreat with my friend Lauren.

Despite all the work, I've made time to cook. Max really loved these burgers, declaring them the best thing I ever made. Wait, what? What about my homemade raviolis? My soups, my cookies? Well, I have to agree these were amazing. I ran across the recipe on Gourmet magazine's website, but of course changed a few things to keep costs down.

The biggest change I made was to serve the patties over whole rye instead of sandwiching on rye bread. Call me crazy but it worked out great, and sauerkraut was a perfect match to round out the meal. You might look at this and say, "Hey Michelle, Miss Health Counselor, where's the vegetable?" And I will tell you, it's ALL vegetable, baby.

Mushroom Kasha Burgers with Chipotle Mayonnaise
adapted from Gourmet Magazine
For rye:
2 cups whole rye kernels
4 cups water
1 sheet nori, finely cut with scissors
olive oil, apple cider vinegar, tamari and S+P to taste

For burgers:
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup coarse kasha (whole roasted buckwheat groats)
8 oz portabella mushrooms, including stems
24 oz. white mushrooms
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped red cabbage
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon tamari
1 and 1/2 cups panko or breadcrumbs, divided
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup ghee, butter or olive oil
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Tabasco chipotle sauce, or any spicy sauce you have
1 cup sauerkraut

1. Optional but recommended: Soak rye in a bowl of water overnight with a splash of vinegar. Drain and rinse before cooking.

2. Add rye to a pot with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until all water is absorbed, about 1 hour. While you wait, prepare the burgers.

3. Bring water to a boil in small pot, then stir in kasha. Cover and reduce heat to low, then cook until kasha is tender and water is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool.

4. Break mushrooms/portabellas into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, then transfer to a bowl. You may want to do this in batches.

5. Cook onion and red cabbage in butter in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 min. Add chopped mushroom mixture, garlic, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until any liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, then stir in kasha, parsley, tamari, and 1/2 cup panko. Mix well. Cool 10 minutes, then stir in egg until combined.

6. Get a cookie sheet ready. Put remaining 1 cup bread crumbs in a shallow bowl.

7. Form mushroom mixture into a 3/4-inch-thick patties (3 1/2 inches in diameter), then dredge in panko, knocking off excess, and transfer to cookie sheet. Chill patties in refrigerator for about 1 hour.

8. Heat ghee in cleaned skillet over medium-high heat, then fry patties, turning over once, until deep golden, about 4 minutes total. (You can also use oil but I prefer ghee which has a higher smoking point and creates less drama with the fire alarm). Carefully transfer patties to dishes or a platter. They will be soft, but if they crumble its ok, they still taste good!

7. Meanwhile, whisk together mayonnaise and chipotle sauce. Add oil, vinegars and seasoning to the rye once it's done cooking and stir well. Serve burgers over rye with chipotle mayo on top and sauerkraut on the side.
Serves about 4.

Ok, onto the invitation for all of you in the Boston area! I am going to start hosting a Sunday Cooking Club, held once per month. The upcoming dates are April 5th and May 3rd. If you are interested check out http://findyourbalancehealth.com/sundaycookingclub.

And you are all invited to check out my friend Lauren's yoga retreat for June 25th - June 28th. It will be held in New Hampshire at Newfound Lake. If you'd like more details see her website or contact Lauren at info@laurenegavian.com.

Six hours to simmer and other benefits of unemployment

Some amazing things are happening. I wake up easily. I'm not craving snacks. Doors of opportunity are opening. Unicorns are appearing in my living room. Ok, not that last one. But seriously, since my last post things are really going unexpectedly awesome.

A few days ago I was able to attend a meeting of a local group called Medford Health Matters. Since the meeting was midweek I was only able to attend because I didn't have to go to work! It was great to interact with real people trying their damndest to make a difference in the town they live in. (A far cry from the fancy 20th floor conference room meetings in my old advertising job about the best way to make a product sound healthy without actually making health claims because they aren't true.)

The group seemed authentically happy to have me there and we are working on ways to collaborate and bring some whole body health programs to our town. We met in a community center that was only a 5 minute walk from my house. I had never even known it was there! I met the guy who runs the center and now we are talking about me teaching a yoga class at the center.

Finally I am happy to announce that I think I have found my very first health counseling client! Hopefully we will start working together next week. I'm grateful to have more time in my day to focus on this and go through all the steps for the first time.

Ok, I'm ready. Where are the unicorns? I feel like anything could happen next.

But let's get to the talk about food, shall we? One of the other awesome things about not working 9-5 is I was able to use a lamb bone in the freezer to make some truly amazing soup, pictured above. I had no idea what I was doing and it turned out to be perhaps the tastiest soup I've ever eaten.

But where'd I get that lamb bone? I actually bought meat, yes, 1.25 lbs. of bone-in lamb the other week. Max and I made an Indian style stew with the meat and then of course the bone got put to good use. Both were excellent recipes, so read on:


Subz Gosht
This apparently means 'lamb with onions, tomatoes, yogurt and veggies' in Indian. I doubled the recipe and am giving you the big doubled version here. But instead of doubling the amount of lamb (At $9/lb.? No way!) I added lentils. For the lamb and all ingredients please use the best quality, sustainably farmed, organic options you can find and afford.

3 Tbl. olive oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, or more for more spice
1" piece of ginger, peeled and minced
2 onions, chopped fine
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbl. curry powder
1" fresh turmeric root, peeled and minced (or use powdered)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1.25 lbs. bone-in lamb, cubed (keep the bone in the freezer for future use)
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups butternut squash, chopped small
2 carrots, chopped small
20 green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2" pieces
4 potatoes, cut into 2" chunks
10 oz. sliced white mushrooms
1 cup red lentils
3 cups water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup chopped cilantro

1. Heat oil in large stock pot over med-high heat. Add cumin, red pepper, garlic and ginger. Saute for 30 seconds then add onions. Saute, stirring, 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes. Add yogurt and stir continuously for another 5 minutes.
2. Add the salt, curry powder, turmeric, and cayenne. Cook for 1 minute then add lamb cubes and cook in sauce for 10 minutes. Add all veggies, lentils and water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1.5-2 hours. Mix in lemon juice and cilantro.
Serves 8ish. Tastes even better the next day!
Approx. cost per serving: $3.15


Michelle's Homemade Lamb Broth Soup
Making broth from animal bones is a great way to get minerals like calcium. The longer the soup simmers, the more nutrients will swim out into your broth.

1 Tbl. olive oil
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 onion, quartered
12 cups water
5 carrots, chopped into fourths
4 red potatoes, cubed
1 lamb bone or any odd animal bone/part
2 Tbl. sea salt
2 cups red cabbage, chopped fine
2 whole garlic cloves
3 cups arugula leaves and stems, chopped roughly

1. In large stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and red pepper and cook until onions start to turn translucent.
2. Add water, bone, carrots and salt. Bring to a boil, then turn heat very low and cover. Simmer for as long as you've got – I did 5 hours.
3. Then add cabbage, potatoes and garlic cloves. Simmer another hour.
4. Add arugula and mix, the leaves will wilt instantly.
Serves 8ish.
Approx. cost per serving: $0.65

I like cookies for breakfast

I like cookies for breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunchtime treat, before dinner snack, dessert with tea...

It's a problem.

After a long bus ride down to NYC last weekend I wanted a little something and ended up eating a cookie from Starbucks. I wish I hadn't. Sugar before bed stinks and I'm convinced that it's the white/cornsyrupy sugar things that make my gums flare up. I've got these gums that just want to recede and I don't know why. Sometimes they get all red and pissed off, threatening their retreat. Have you ever had a gum graft done? I'd like to avoid this in the future. Send me your gum-health secrets. Um, if those exist?

But I digress.

After my moderate success with christmas baking and the more recent Apple Clusters, I've decided a good cookbook I should write someday will be called Cookies for Breakfast. And all the recipes would be healthy enough that you could eat 'em first thing in the morning and not feel too guilty. What do you think?

If I'm going to make cookies into a food group, they'd better be healthy. So this version uses whole grains AND whole grain flour, fruit AND vegetables. Whoa.

Sweet Potato, Apple and Banana Cookies
1/4 cup millet
3 Tbl. butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
3/4 cup Sweet Potato Apple Spread
(see recipe within this post)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. ground flax seed
1 banana, sliced fine
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Add 1 cup of water to millet in a small saucepan. (Why don't recipes ever say "in a pot"? It's always a "saucepan") Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer until millet has absorbed all the water, about 15 minutes. In a large mixing bowl combine all wet ingredients. Add flour 1 cup at a time, then baking powder, flax and salt. Mix to combine. Fold in banana, raisins and choc chips. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until browned.

Go go gadget veggie salsa!

Seriously, a lot of my recipes come from sheer laziness. In this case I wanted to eat a lot of varied vegetables, but I'll be a monkey's uncle if I'm going to cook up 6 different dishes!

Do you have time for that? I do not. Please, I did not even have time to watch Lost or Battlestar Gallactica last week :-) I use my Franklin Covey planner to help me keep everything organized and make the most of my time. Last week Mr. Covey clearly said to me, "You are doing too much. Make a lot of 1 recipe and eat leftovers." I always listen to Mr. Covey.

So, I sent Max to the store with a grocery list full of vegetables. By the way, we've been doing really well this month keeping our weekly grocery bill to under $70. I think the best way to do that is to:
1. Eat what you have in the house already
2. Don't waste anything
3. Buy things that don't come in a package

What resulted was a lip-smackin', hip-shakin' veggie salsa that hit on pretty much every nutrient in the book. I served it over brown rice and black beans, but you could also add it to a broth for some soup, or mix it with marinara sauce and serve over pasta. It never hurts to have a big bowl of chopped veggies in the fridge for whatever comes up. So the question is, does this even count as a recipe? Probably not since I just sort of made it up as I went along!

Six Veggie Salsa
5 carrots
2 tomatoes
1 head swiss chard
1 cucumber
15 brussel sprouts
1/2 butternut squash
1 onion
1 head cilantro
1/2 bag frozen corn, defrosted
for dressing
1 lime
pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
approx. 1/4 cup each apple cider vinegar, umeboshi plum vinegar, olive oil and tamari

Chop all veggies (except corn) into tiny pieces or shreds. In large pan, cook onion and butternut squash until tender. Allow to cool. Toss everything with dressing and allow to sit for 1 hour so acid from dressing can break down chard and sprouts. Serve as you would salsa.

P.S. Head on over to Food Renegade for a chance to win free La Cense Grass-fed beef. It's the only meat I'll advocate – go for it!

Breakfast, you're fired!

My breakfast can be kind of lazy. I mean, I do all the work. I boil the water, measure the oats, chop the fruit...and then I do all the eating and digesting! What does my breakfast do? It just kinda sits there. Well, breakfast, times are tough and we've got to make some changes around here so we're gonna have to let you go. Time to bring in a morning meal that works a little harder so I don't have to.

I think I've found a perfect candidate. I'll still be eating a mixture of whole grains each morning, like oats, millet, amaranth and quinoa. But things are gonna be different around here:

1. My new breakfast grains have overnight hours.
Here's something I didn't know until recently: whole grains like brown rice and oats contain phytic acid as a natural part of the grain's bran. Phytic acid gets cozy with minerals like calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc and prevents their absorption in the intestinal tract. Boooooo

2. My new breakfast grains do more of my work.
When I saw Sally Fallon speak last weekend she talked a lot about how to aid digestion in the preparation of food. Her suggestion was to add a splash of lemon juice or vinegar to the soaking water of oats. In a sort of pre-digestion process, the oats start to break down and are later easier to digest. This means my body does less work and I have more energy. See this is what I mean by my breakfast doing some work around here!

3. My new breakfast grains get creative.
Fruit and raisins are good. But I've been thinking of ways to diversify for the sake of my tastebuds and nutrient intake. Try this: shred a few carrots into your grains about halfway through cooking time. Carrots are naturally sweet and work well with a few raisins and pecans. Breakfast comes out tasting like a carrot cake!

Hard Working Breakfast Grains
Serves 1
1/3 cup mixed whole grains (try oats, millet, amaranth or quinoa)
1 cup water
splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
Optional mix-ins: raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, shredded carrots, chopped fruit, peanut butter, nuts, seeds, maybe a tablespoon of ghee if you're feeling decadent

Soak grains overnight in a bowl with a vinegar or lemon juice. In the morning, strain and combine with water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. Halfway through cooking time, add your choice of mix-ins.

You might notice that your oats/grains taste lighter and more fluffy than usual. I thought that even without fruit they tasted sweeter.

What do you like to eat for breakfast?

Also, I'd like to promote a great idea for a blogger cookbook from Foods That Fit. I'm going to contribute and you should too!

The Genius of Hummus

Have you noticed that most people don't like beans? Bring up the idea of eating beans and they'll wrinkle their noses right up. But have you also noticed that people love hummus? As a dip or a spread or a pita filling, people love it so much that companies have come out with tons of hummus variations with red peppers or garlic, etc.

So...hummus is made from beans...people love hummus... Ha!

It's just genius. Because beans are really, really, really good for you. I mean, you know that. But how often do Americans break out a can of beans with excitement? What I love about 'em is how versatile they are. Beans can go in everything, but to get people on board with the idea, start with hummus.

Making it at home is super easy. Recipes vary but always include chickpeas, olive oil, tahini and garlic. But I like to mix it up. You can use different beans and seasonings but the main idea is the same. Tell everyone, "It's just like hummus!"

Taco Style "It's Just Like Hummus"
1 can organic pinto beans
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
handful of cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp. ground flax seed (optional)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 Tbl. olive oil

Soak the beans in water if you have time (like, a few hours). This will help them digest more easily. Discard soaking water. In a small pan, heat 1 Tbl. olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Put all ingredients except olive oil in a food processor. Blend, adding oil a little at a time. Serve as you would hummus.

I brought this to a party but made extra for myself and ate it throughout the week as a snack and as part of a full meal.

What are some other ways to make beans taste great?

Deliciousness on the cheap

Last week I challenged myself to make a week's worth of food for as little money as possible. If this sounds familiar, start by taking a gander around your pantry. In our case we had a few pounds of mung beans and plenty of brown rice. Another goal for this meal was to include sweet vegetables in an attempt to curb my nighttime sweet tooth.

Beware, this isn't the simplest recipe and it makes A LOT. We ate it for a week. Be sure to cut everything in half if you aren't prepared to fill a bunch of tupperwares with leftovers! It was worth the effort though. One of my coworkers shouted out of his office as a walked by with a piping hot plate, "Michelle, that smells amazing!"

And it was.

Indiasian Mung Beans with Veggie Rice
Serves 10
For the beans
3 cups dried mung beans, sorted and soaked overnight
3 Tbl. toasted sesame oil
3 Tbl. unhulled sesame seeds
2 Tbl. minced chives
S+P
For the rice
3 cups brown basmati rice, soaked overnight
4 Tbl. ghee
4 Tbl. olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
3 carrots, chopped small
2 small Delicata squash, unpeeled and chopped small, seeds washed and reserved
1 bunch Dinosaur kale, sliced thin, including stems
2 tomatoes, chopped
3 tsp. garam masala
2/3 cup water
2 tsp. tamari

1. Cook mung beans until just tender by bringing to a boil and simmering for about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. While beans cook, heat smallish skillet over medium heat and add the seeds from the squash. Keep a close eye as they toast, occasionally tossing. When toasted, add tamari and mix. Allow liquid to cook down. Scrape seeds out of pan and set aside.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil and add the rice. Return to a boil then lower heat to simmer 10 minutes. The rice will only be partially done at this point.
4. Add the ghee and olive oil to the largest stock pot you own, something with a tight fitting lid. When the ghee and oil are hot, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes until browned. Add carrots, tomato, squash and garam masala. Sprinkle with S+P and 2/3 cup water.
5. Wrap a clean kitchen towel around the pot's lid so the corners are on top and come nowhere near the burner. Add the rice and cover the pot. Heat should be at medium high. After a few minutes it will start to sizzle and you can reduce heat to low. Cook undisturbed for about 20 minutes.
2. While you wait, heat sesame oil in the largest skillet you own over medium high heat. When hot, add the mung beans and gently toss to coat in oil. Cook until they start to pop. Add sesame seeds and mix. Add a drizzle more of the sesame oil and remove from heat. Stir in the chives, salt and pepper. Set aside.
6. Add chopped kale to rice mixture and stir. Cook another 10 minutes.
7. Remove carefully from heat. Spoon rice onto plates to serve, topped with mung beans and toasted seeds.

(And yes, the challenge was met. I spent only $35 at Whole Foods and fed Max and I for a week. Plus, we cleaned out some of our pantry items. It would be interesting to see what else we could make out of the food already in our house...anyone have a recipe for sardines and raisins?)

How do you save money and still cook healthy meals?

Peanut Butter is the new black

Every Wednesday we get together with friends to watch the latest episode of Lost. (Any Lost fans out there? Time travel is getting cra-zy. Leave theories in the comments!) Each week it's someone's turn to host the group and make dinner, usually something like Mac'n'cheese or chili or burritos, something relatively inexpensive to feed a group. But last week was the cheapest of them all: PB&J. Entertain a crowd while watching your budget? Yes.

I wasn't so sure about this at first. But peanut butter is pretty good for you, right? It was a good fit for our group of combined meat eaters and vegetarians. And then it got really interesting because of all the Fixins. That's right: Fixins. This is a new term in American language, appealing to children and adults who act like children. So it was perfect. My contribution was a spread to accompany or replace peanut butter in the sandwiches – I also think it works well as a dip for fruit slices. Here's the recipe:

Sweet Potato Apple Spread
1 can sweet potato
(the only ingredient on the can should be "sweet potatoes")
8 oz. tofu
2 Tbl. maple syrup
1 granny smith apple
4 Tbl. olive oil
1/8 tsp. each: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves

Chop apple into tiny pieces and cook in a pan over medium heat until soft and fragrant. Combine all ingredient in food processor and blend.

We filled our sandwiches with things like apple slices, celery sticks, honey, Fluff, bacon, pickles, jalepenos, etc...most things tasted surprisingly good, though I did not try the jalepenos... The nicest part was the homemade whole wheat bread that we piled it all on. Or maybe the nicest part was how we grilled 'em up after we were done constructing our masterpieces.



All in all a fun time. And I think we may have all learned a few good lessons. Like, peanut butter and pickles is a delicious combination. And, food combining is an important science that should be taken seriously to avoid stomach upset for the next 4 days. Don't look at me...my somewhat healthy sandwich is the one pictured up above with fruit and 1 experimental piece of bacon. But Max's...he even included the non-fixin items like rice krispie treats that were meant for dessert. You've been warned.

Super Natural Recipes Galore

I love Heidi Swanson's recipes like no other. I picked up her cookbook on a whim awhile ago and loved reading every page. Serious food nerd alert – reading a cookbook cover to cover!! Then I started visiting her blog, 101cookbooks. Now she's got a new widget/website, the Super Natural Recipe Search where you can search for recipes and submit your own. Find it in the right column of my site – I'm all tech savvy like that :-)

I do have to pause and point out that the name Super Natural Recipes sounds like Supernatural Recipes, as in recipes for ghosts. Which actually could be very cool but that's not what these are at all about :-)

As a tribute and to help kick off her new search engine, here's a list of some of my favorite tried-and-true recipes from Heidi's archives.

Cashew Curry Recipe
This one is pictured above because I just made it the other night. So what if I substituted pistachios and added about 4 cups of pumpkin? Recipes are jumping off points for me, and this was a great one. I never really think on my own to use coconut milk or curry. And, hooray for one pot meals!

Roasted Pumpkin Salad
This was one of my first encounters with cooking squash but it set me up for a great winter full of yummy squash-centered meals. I loved the flavor combination in this dish.

Salt-kissed Buttermilk Cake
I felt like a real Food Network star or something when this came out of the oven. Loved it. It's a real classy cake.

Garlic Soba Noodles
Holy awesome. It was like fast food or really bad for you food, except it wasn't. Know what I mean? All delicious as if I should feel guilty. It was great on a rainy day watching movies on the couch kind of food.

What are some of your favorite recipe sites?

Whipping up a batch of apple clusters

I came home starving today. Starving. Kick the cat out of the way and head straight for the kitchen starving. Does that ever happen to you? I ate a full healthy breakfast and lunch with a snack of carrot and celery sticks. And on the way home instead of thinking about reheating dinner I had visions of baked good dancing in my head.

One of my health challenges is my love affair with cookies. When I don't have the baking bug I end up eating organic oreo-type cookies, or maybe fig newtons. But I much prefer homemade cookies because after all the work of baking I'm a bit more likely to make them last. :-) And, of course I almost forgot, because I can make something satisfying with whole ingredients.

Today's creation: Apple Clusters. Despite being a "treat" food they are made of whole grains and natural sweeteners. If you like 'em sweeter, sprinkle with sugar before baking. Me, I like them as a sort of cookie/granola hybrid snack.

Apple Clusters
1/2 stick butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup date sugar (granulated dried dates)
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups spelt flour
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 cup quinoa
2 eggs
1 apple, chopped tiny
1/2 cup milk or soymilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In mixing bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, date sugar and honey. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with milk. Add the rest of the ingredients one at a time to the butter/sugar mixture, alternating with some of the eggs/milk. Combine, adding a little water as needed. Drop tablespoon sized clusters onto baking sheets and bake for about 15 minutes.

What do you like to eat as a snack when you get home?

A recipe that works for YOU

You know how sometimes you find an interesting recipe but, oh man, I wonder if we have any red curry paste in the house? Maybe we should just get pizza instead. Or, hmmm I don't have time to pick up parsley and I really can't make this without parsley...

How about a recipe that works WITH you. It works FOR you. You tell it what to be, what it's going to include. Forget takeout, forget packaged food. You DO have all the ingredients. Readers, I give to you...

World's Most Flexible Chili Recipe
Step one is to mostly ignore this recipe. If you don't have something, leave it out or substitute something else. Be creative. The more ingredients you have, the more it will taste like, well, regular chili. But the more you substitute the more likely you are to discover a really awesome chili-type thing.

The major players:
(Use any combination major player ingredients, but about this much)
2 15 oz. cans of beans (kidney, black, pinto, whatever)
4 cups chopped vegetables
1 lb. ground meat

The flavors:
2 Tbl. olive oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 onions, chopped
salt & pepper
2 Tbl. red chili powder
2 Tbl. cumin
1/2 cup vegetable or any stock
1/2 cup dark beer
1/2 cup tomato paste
15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 Tbl. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. oregano
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, chopped

1. Heat oil over low to medium heat, saute garlic and onions for 5 minutes.
2. If using meat, add now and cook until no pink remains (7-10 min). If using uncooked vegetables that will need time to cook fully, add now (like squash, eggplant, mushrooms). Otherwise skip to next step.
3. Add the rest of the "flavor" ingredients and mix. Eyeball measurements.
4. Bring to a simmer, turn heat down to low, cover and cook for 45 minutes.
5. Add beans and any pre-cooked or quick-cook veggies (like frozen corn, leafy greens). Keep on heat for another 15 minutes.
Serve with sour cream, Tofutti, grated cheese, olives, you name it! Feeds 4-6.

Here are two variations I just made recently:

Manly Yet Healthy Chili (pictured above)
Use 1 lb. 100% grass fed ground beef, 1 can black beans, 1 can kidney beans. Include about 4 cups total of chopped kale, mushrooms, green peppers and corn. Use all "flavor" ingredients as listed. In step 5, add 2 Tbl. instant espresso.

Pumpkin White Chili
Use 5 cups pumpkin, chopped into 1" pieces (keep skin on). Use with pinto and kidney beans. Leave out tomatoes and tomato paste. Add 1 extra jalepeno pepper. In step 5, mix in 2 Tbl. creamy peanut butter.

What are some of your favorite chili variations? Next time I'm going to include seaweed somewhere in there...

By the way this recipe is part of The Nourishing Gourmet's Soups and Stews Carnival. Thanks Kimi!

Squash Fritters and Starting School

It happens all the time – despite my best intentions, food goes to waste because I only need, say, HALF an onion or 1 cup of cauliflower instead of the whole head. The remainders sometimes sadly are forgotten until they go bad and with a heavy heart I toss 'em in the trash. Which reminds me I need to figure out how to compost, apartment-style. Anyway, with 3/4 of a butternut squash aging in the fridge, I was determined to find an easy recipe to use it up tonight. No one recipe was quite right so I combined a couple of ideas and came up with some quite delicious veggie fritters! Kickass.

Butternut Squash Fritters
2 cups butternut squash
1/2 onion
1/4 cup amaranth
8 oz. tofu
1/2 cup cashew pieces
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbl. olive oil
1/2-1 cup soymilk
S+P to taste
Ghee, for frying
Tamari, as dressing.

Preheat oven to 275. In food processor, grind cashews. Add tofu and combine. Set aside in bowl. Again in food processor using grating blade, grate squash and onion. Add to cashew mixture and blend. Add amaranth, flour, eggs, oil and S+P and mix well. Finally, add enough soymilk to create a sort of batter. It should not be runny at all, just moist enough to hold together.

In cast iron skillet, heat 1 Tbl. ghee over medium heat. You could use oil instead but the smoking point of ghee makes it less likely that your fire alarm will go off. Drop ice cream scoop-fulls of veggie batter onto skillet and flatten with a spatula. Cook for a few minutes and flip. Cook until browned. Since you will be working in batches, keep cooked fritters in the oven to stay warm. Serve with tamari and a green salad or green veggie side dish!

Part of my reason for using up extra stuff in the fridge is because I'm going away for 3 nights to start school at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NYC! It's going to be once or twice a month until July and at the end I'll be certified as a holistic health counselor, ready to work with individuals and groups. It's so exciting! This is a field I am (obviously) so interested in and committed to. It feels awesome to start something fresh and do something I believe in. So, the travel back and forth to NYC might be rough but I'm going to do my best to stay sane and get enough rest so I actually make it through my classes. So much more to come about this, I will surely be writing more in the future about the program. Biggest news for weekend #1 is that Marion Nestle, author of What To Eat, will be speaking. Stay tuned and in the meantime, use up that leftover celery in the fridge, would ya?

Healthy(ish) Christmas Cookies: Part 3

'Twas two nights before Christmas and I just finished assembling my final recipe redo of the year. I'll be bringing all of my Christmas cookies down to the fam on Thursday so we'll see how everyone appreciates (?) these new takes on my grandma's classic cookies.

So finally we come to the simple butter cookie. My grandma would use her cookie gun to create shapes, then match them together as sandwiches filled with jelly. Then the sandwiches were dipped into chocolate and sprinkles and were just delicious and super professional looking. At least I always thought so!

My recipe conversion went like this:

1. Replace. White flour got the boot in favor of whole wheat pastry and spelt flour. Goodbye margarine and white sugar, hello organic butter, maple syrup and Sucanat. And instead of the notion that if you are 'just baking with it' to get the cheapest ingredients, I got quality plum fruit spread sweetened only with fruit juice.

2. Eliminate. Since there's plenty of sugar in the recipe I simply ditched the chocolate and sprinkles. If I were catering more towards kids I would have kept it, but for me this time of year, cookies tend to be breakfast so I went chocolate-free.

3. Add value. In perhaps my trickiest move yet, I mixed ground flax seed into the plum spread. You can't even tell it's there but your colon can. I mean, in a good way.

Perhaps a bit plain, these are still stunning because of my grandmother's hardworking cookie gun I'm lucky enough to have snagged.



Butter Cookie Sandwiches
1 lb. butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup Sucanat (a non-refined cane sugar)
2 organic/free range eggs
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups spelt flour
1 tsp. aluminum free baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1-2 cups naturally sweetened fruit spread of your choice
5 Tbl. ground flax seed

Cream butter with sugar in a large bowl. Add maple syrup, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add all dry ingredients and blend. Use cookie gun to create shapes on cookie sheets. You may need to bake in two batches as this recipe made enough to fill two sheets twice. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. They are thin and can burn easily to keep a close eye on 'em! Let cool on baking racks. In a bowl, mix fruit spread with flax seed. When cool, assemble into sandwiches with a small amount of fruit between the butter cookies.

Happy, healthy holidays to everyone!

Healthy(ish) Christmas Cookies: Part 2

Moving on to another of my grandma's recipes! Her Italian Sesame Seed Cookies always had a really understated elegance. It's as if to say, who needs chocolate? Who needs icing? They sort of fall in that Stella D'oro category of cookies that seem perfectly acceptable for breakfast and are excellent with a cup of coffee. (And when I say coffee I mean organic green tea...ok, maybe coffee but just 1 cup!)

Following my patented (not really) 3-step method I converted this white sugar/white flour recipe to something that tastes even better and feels like real food:

1. Replace. Instead of 3 cups of white flour, I used 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of rye flour. The wheat flour is necessary for gluten. I think. I'm no scientist. The rye flour I thought would complement the seed theme. Mostly it was a guess. As for sugar, I ditched white sugar for a combination of raw unfiltered honey and date sugar. (The date sugar was a surprising and happy find – pure ground dates!) Then, the baking soda became aluminum free and the eggs organic/free range. Finally, instead of regular sesame seeds I chose the unhulled variety for extra fiber. So lots of replacements here.

2. Eliminate. I got rid of 100% of the white sugar and flour in this recipe. Enough said!

3. Add value. I added poppy, chia and caraway seeds. Together these seeds are a powerhouse of calcium, copper, manganese, zinc, fiber and more. I'm sorry, what was that? Calcium in a non-dairy product? YES, yes that's right.

They came out fantastic. Reminiscent of my grandma's cookies, absolutely. But with way more full bodied flavor from all of the quality ingredients. I'm in love.

Toothdigger Seed Cookies
Considering all the seeds, you should have floss handy :-)
1 cup unsalted organic butter, softened
1/2 cup raw unfiltered honey
1/2 cup date sugar
2 organic eggs
1 tsp. organic vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup rye flour
1 cup of seeds, poured into a shallow bowl (Combination is up to you, I had a mixture of unhulled sesame, poppy, chia and caraway)

Cream together butter, honey, and date sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and baking powder. Blend to create dough. Shape with hands into 1.5" long log shapes, about 1/2" wide. Roll cookies in seeds. Bake 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees until lightly browned.

I'm entering these into Food Blogga's Eat Christmas Cookies (enter here).

Healthy(ish) Christmas Cookies: Part 1

One of my favorite Christmas cookies is a recipe my grandma used to make every year. She called them Christmas Nut Balls and they are a simple combination of chocolate, nuts and plenty of sugar.

The thing is, I'd like to say, oh it's Christmastime, eat whatever, 'tis the season blah blah blah. But Max and I are going to Puerto Rico in a few weeks! So I'm really extra not interested in gaining holiday weight. And anyway, I've been cooking so much healthy stuff for us the past year, I'm just going to convert my favorite cookie recipes to something I'm willing to actually eat! Not that they'll be low fat or actually turn into magical health food, but... Anyway, here was the 3 step process I used to convert the recipe.

1. Replace. Whole grain flours replaced 100% of the white flour in this recipe. I just guessed with the spelt flour but it totally worked. And I replaced all of the brown sugar with pure maple syrup. The original recipe was always a little too dry so this 1:1 substitution actually improved things.

2. Eliminate. I cut the amount of white sugar and chocolate chips in half because there was enough sweetness in this recipe. Why overdo it?

3. Add value. I added fresh, healthy cranberries.

My grandma's Christmas Nut Ball have now successfully morphed into:
Christmas Cranberry Nut Balls
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
6 oz. organic chocolate chips
6 oz. fresh cranberries, chopped
1 1/2 cups organic butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup pure organic maple syrup
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups spelt flour
about 1/3 cup organic cane sugar or other granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Let butter softened in large mixing bowl.
Add maple syrup and vanilla, blend well. Mix in flours, one cup at a
time. Add chocolate chips, pecans and cranberries. At this point I
usuallly use my hands to mix everything evenly. Roll dough into small
balls, about 1" in diameter. Bake for 45 minutes on ungreased cookie
sheets. When cool, roll tops of cookies into a small bowl of
granulated sugar to coat.

I'm entering these into The Nourishing Gourmet's Nourishing Sweets and Treats Carnival and Food Blogga's Eat Christmas Cookies (enter here).

Cook a dinner while you cook dinner

First of all, thank you for all the well wishes after my nutmeg fiasco last week! It was great to hear that I wasn't the only one in the dark about nutmeg, and also to learn a thing or two from those of you who had more information about herbs and spices.

Today I'm sharing a very simple recipe, and not because I think you've never heard of spaghetti squash. But rather because I think it's a great way to make two dinners at once. I get home pretty late a few nights a week because my favorite yoga studio is on the other side of the city. It takes 90 minutes on public transportation to get home! Crazy. So on those nights it's a quick dinner or none at all!

Say you're making something like Braised Seitan with Brussels, Kale, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes for dinner. It's going to take you about an hour, but you don't need the oven. This happened to me the other night. So I split open a spaghetti squash and threw it in a pan with about a quarter-inch of water, baked at 400 degrees. Since I had a little extra time I toasted the seeds from the squash and sprinkled with some coriander. Yum! By the time my other dinner was done, I had a whole lotta squash ready and waiting for later in the week.

I stored the squash halves in a big tupperware in the fridge. The next night when I got home from yoga all I had to do was fork out the spaghetti strands and heat in a pot with a splash of water. I added fresh thyme and Earth Balance, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. You could do any number of toppings instead but the point is, you will have a healthy dinner in no time flat.

Here are a few recipes you can try with your pre-cooked spaghetti squash if you want to get a little fancy!
http://happyherbivore.com/2008/10/fiesta-spaghetti-squash
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/dining/021srex.html

Greektalian Wild Rice Soup

Thursday night went something like this:
Me: We don't have any food at home
My husband: Crap
Me: What can we make quick?
My husband: Want to meet at Trader Joe's?

And just like that, a new recipe was born. He never actually made it to Trader Joe's, but as I walked through the aisles I picked out some things I thought might make a quick soup. We took the 6:25 train home, got in the door 15 minutes later and by 7:00 dinner was ready.

We couldn't stop exclaiming how darn good this soup was all night! It's got a bunch of different flavors kicking around in your mouth all at once, with enough heat to justify keeping the thermostat in the house down a degree. Wild rice was a nice change of pace for us too. I'm reading that besides being a complete protein its got lotsa zinc and magnesium. It was great with the feta but obviously it's easy to leave that out and make this a vegan meal.

Greektalian Wild Rice Soup
I've named after the fact that I couldn't decide whether or not the flavors should go greek (I considered adding kalamata olives to the feta) or italian (the red pepper and broccoli with italian style bread definitely were headed that way.)
For topping:
1 small loaf of substantial whole wheat bread, torn into pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbl. Fresh thyme
2 Tbl. sea salt
a couple glugs of olive oil
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

For soup:
2 Tbl olive oil
1-2 Tbl red pepper flakes, depending how hot you want it
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
12 cups vegetable broth
1.5 cups pre-cooked wild rice or other cooked grain
6-8 sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 cups broccoli, chopped tiny

1. Tear whole wheat bread into bite size pieces. I used an italian-style loaf which worked well. In a bowl, mix bread with garlic, oil, salt and thyme. Spread evenly on cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees until toasted well (about 10 minutes). Chop tomato and set aside, along with crumbled feta.
2. In large stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add red pepper, garlic and onion, stirring and allowing the onion to become translucent. Add vegetable broth to the pot, along with wild rice and sun-dried tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer. Add broccoli--it will turn bright green quickly and that's the perfect amount of cooking time.
3. Ladle soup into bowls and top with toasted bread pieces, tomato and feta.
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 6

Seitan: don't have to pronounce it to love it

When I started cutting meat and processed foods out of my diet there were a few lessons to be learned. Like, how on earth will I live without cheese? Wait, what's wrong with white rice? And what the he** is seitan? Sounds devilish and awful.

I'm still not a seitan connoisseur...I buy it in a box at Whole Foods instead of making my own. And I've only used it a handful of times. But boy OH BOY was this last time awesome! Seitan, for those of you who haven't tried it, is a meat substitute made from wheat gluten. Gluten allergies, back off and try this recipe with tempeh instead!! (Now what the he** is tempeh?...and the learning goes on and on...)

In any case, please please try the very delicious Braised Seitan with Brussels, Kale, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes straight from Veganomicon. I paired with a sweet potato mash of my own concoction:

Mashed Sweet Potatoes
3 lbs. any variety sweet potatoes (I used the kind that have light-colored flesh, somewhere between a white potato and a truly orange yam color)
Butter or oil to taste
Splash of soymilk to desired consistency

1. Chop potatoes into equal size pieces and cover with water in large pot. Bring to boil and let simmer until very tender. Cooking time will vary with potato variety and size of pieces. Mine took about 20 minutes.

2. Strain potatoes and put them back in the large pot. Using a fork, mash potatoes. This should go quickly and be very easy if they are cooked long enough. Add butter or oil to taste and add soymilk as needed to create desired consistency. S&P to taste.

3. Spoon seitan recipe over potatoes and serve. Squeal with delight!

Garbanzofish Sandwich

I've seen a lot of recipes like this but never gave it a shot until I saw Happy Herbivore's version. Man, that girl has a lot of good recipes. Chickpeas make a perfect substitution for tuna! A spin through the food processor and your eye just cannot tell the difference.

Anyway, the reason I love this is because it looks and tastes pretty much like normal, everyday tuna. And you can make a normal, everyday sandwich and no one thinks you're absurd health girl. But it's still a totally healthy vegan dish and very versatile. I'd like to try in a few other recipes – maybe a casserole or a nicoise salad. But for now, an amazing lunch came together with some millet bread and clover sprouts. If you use canned chickpeas and a food processor, this recipe will take you 35 seconds. I actually used dried chickpeas because I subconsciously must have felt guilt that this recipe would be THAT easy.

Mock Tuna Salad
with slight variation from Happy Herbivore
1 cup dried chickpeas
1 1" piece kombu
2 celery stalks, broken roughly into pieces
1 dill pickle
1 tbsp dill pickle water
1 squirt lemon juice
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp tamari
2 heaping spoonfuls vegan mayo
1 sheet nori, shredded
salt + pepper to taste

1. Soak chickpeas with kombu overnight in water. Remove kombu, cook about an hour until beans are tender.
2. Process cooked chickpeas in food processor.
3. Add all other ingredients and blend.