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!

Post Holiday Detox and a Sunny Segue into 2009

The reason it was so important for me to make my holiday cookies healthier is because I tend to eat a lot of cookies. And I must have eaten even more than usual because I'm up a few pounds and not thrilled about it. (btw, they got mixed but mostly good reviews from the family) Frankly, I haven't been getting to yoga as often as usual and that's probably got a lot to do with how I'm feeling too.

Besides the scale getting me down, I spent the holidays eating a lot of meat at relatives' dinner tables and of course en route to these tables at McDonalds on the Massachusetts Turnpike...sigh...my digestive system is still working it all out. Boooo. I'm going to chalk it all up to a reminder about eating well because I really don't feel great. Kinda grumpy. Kinda glum.

All I really felt like eating yesterday and today was salad. Nice leafy greens to wash it all away and leave me feeling a little lighter! Pictured above is a salad I made with lettuce, dinosaur kale, tomatoes, avocado, lemon juice, olive oil, cayenne pepper and ground flax seed. Also, a sandwich using leftover sundried tomato spread (a Veganomicon recipe!) and sprouts on sprouted grain bread. My belly said, "This is more like it!"


In addition to detoxing from the holiday food coma, Max and I are packing and getting ready for our trip to Puerto Rico! We're leaving in two days and will be back in 2009. I like that it's sort of a farewell to 2008 and sunny segue to the new year. But it's too bad about having to wear a bikini in a few days... When I get back I'm considering going raw for awhile, to get a fresh start on the inside :-)

What are you doing as 2008 wraps up, and to commemorate the new year?

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).

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!

Playing Recipe Matchmaker

I had a butternut squash sitting in the fridge forever while I figured out what it would make a good side dish for. And it sat. And sat. Because I make a lot of one-pot meals that don't need a side dish. Side dishes are for meat eaters.

But then flipping through one of my favorite cookbooks it occurred to me to make two side dishes together as the meal. So the pairing begins...! This butternut squash recipe is sweet, creamy and lovely. Since broccoli rabe has that distinct bitter flavor I thought the two would go well together. Sort of balance each other out. Both are easy to prepare, I just made the squash first, broccoli rabe second, and used the same pan in the interest of washing fewer dishes.

Both recipes from 3 Bowls: Vegetarian Recipes from an American Zen Buddhist Monastery.

Tahini Butternut Squash and
Broccoli Rabe with Ginger, Honey and Lemon
In the interest of full disclosure I'll mention that I scooped out my butternut seeds and had every intention of roasted them to sprinkle on top of this meal. Unfortunately I turned my back while they were in the toaster oven and they burned to a crisp. A chef, I am not.

Pumpin' Pumpkin Iron

I've had these seeds in the fridge, straight from the pumpkin in this recipe, for like, over two weeks. Surprise! They didn't go bad. So I cleaned 'em under running water and roasted in the toaster oven. After the fact, I read online that you should keep the temperature low to preserve the healthy oils. Oh well. I put mine under the broiler, sprinkled with salt, pepper and curry powder. Every few minutes give those suckers a toss and when they started popping they were about done. Delish snack for a Sunday afternoon and I felt like a very, very good homemaker.

But wait, there's more. Pumpkin seeds, often called pepitas, are chock full of iron and zinc which is a big hooray for vegetarians and vegans who may not get enough of that stuff. There's also some talk of prostate health and help for osteoporosis associated with pepitas. My question was, why are mine thick and white instead of the thin, green pepitas at the store? I guess these are the shells, which are totally edible and provide extra fiber. Thank you, Internet.

I've also heard (and it makes sense) that you should make sure and chew pumpkin seeds really, really well. Otherwise they can pass through you whole, sometimes getting stuck in the gut and causing intestinal problems. Booooo

Any other tips/ideas for roasting pumpkin (or other squash) seeds?

If only I had a hacksaw

This fall I've dived into an abnormal amount of squash recipes, each one leaving me with some near-fatality. Here, I'll just say it, IT'S REALLY HARD TO CUT AND PEEL SQUASH!

Some don'ts:
DON'T hold your squash with wet hands.
DON'T swing a butcher knife wildly at the squash with a karate Hi-ya!
DON'T use a peeler like a machete.

Now can someone help me with a list of DOs? Despite the squash shenanigans, last night I thoroughly enjoyed Heidi Swanson's Roasted Pumpkin Salad. These are not flavors I would have figured out on my own! And if you subtract the time I spent wrestling my pumpkin, the whole meal was relatively easy.

I found a gorgeous organic kobucha squash (japanese pumpkin) at the Farmer's Market that was perfect for this recipe. And instead of wild rice, I used Trader Joe's Brown Rice Medley. It had a great texture and cooked up in the same amount of time it took to roast the pumpkin and onions. All in all, a great, nutritious meal for the cooler weather months. Don't accidently lose a limb and it's even better!

This recipe scared the bejesus out of me

I don't know what it was...maybe just because I didn't know the word "cassoulet" or because I've hardly ever made biscuits before. Anyway, it doesn't matter, it came out great and was one of those perfect cold weather meals. If I do say so myself. Can't take any of the credit here – I followed the recipe from Veganomicon to a T.

I know, I know, I'm really harping on Veganomicon lately. It hasn't let me down yet! But in particular, this meal was so satisfying and indulgent tasting, it certainly didn't feel vegan. But, oh yes my friends, it was. Meat is for wussies.

I can't possibly type out the entire recipe because the directions get sort of long-winded. But it's Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits on page 172 of Veganomicon, so check it out. It basically involved cooking all the veggies and beans in a cast iron skillet on the stovetop, adding gravy and topping with easy-to-make biscuits, then baking in the oven. Way easier than I thought it would be.

What are some other awesome vegan comfort-food recipes for this time of year? I'm looking forward to Kimi's Nourishing Fall Recipe Carnival! I'm a little early posting mine but hopefully it still counts because this meal definitely just became a favorite. And points for frugality...this recipe was all potatoes and carrots. If leeks were too pricey you could do onions. And I left out the fresh thyme and it didn't seem to matter.

Soup: A piece of cake

The advice of Joel Fuhrman MD includes thinking of soups as an easy and flexible way to chow down on super nutritious foods.

Stealthy Healthy Holidays

All in favor of traditional holiday fare, raise your hand. Ok, put it down so you can keep scrolling with your mouse. I feel the same way about Christmas dinner, but this year I also felt guilt. Picture it. You've got appetizers full of antibiotic-laden cheese, plates of hormone-pumped poultry, genetically modified vegetables, and sugar cookies poisoning everyone right before your eyes. This is what I feed my LOVED ones?

I found myself walking the spectrum of idiot to zealot, before landing on a compromise to be merry, merry sneaky.

Hence, the organic green beans with orange, dill, and...ground flaxseeds that looked like pepper or sesame seeds or whatever the family wanted to think they were!

My mom's roasted butternut squash with cranberries, onions and...quinoa! It looked like stuffing and no one knew the difference.

And in a leap of faith we tried a quinoa/nut loaf with garden gravy instead of meatloaf. Delicious, satisfying, and perfect with regular mashed potatotes to even the compromise.

This book is full of awesome vegetarian recipes and gets a shout-out for helping us so much this holiday. 3 Bowls : Vegetarian Recipes from an American Zen Buddhist Monastery

When did shoveling go out of style?

It's not happening so much in my neighborhood, that's for sure. Every day I'm hunched over walking to the train, watching each step as I nearly wipe out on the pavement. When the wind is brutal, I try to pull my head into my coat like a turtle, look down, and try to forget the next 10 minutes of my life. Enter backache, neckache, and everyone's favorite: The Winter Blues!

Cold weather like this calls for what yogis term "Heart Opening." Sounds like I'm gonna whip out a chain saw but it pretty much means backbending. Roll your arms back and stretch out the front of your shoulders for starters. When you bend backwards you stretch open the front of your body – your heart.

Do whatever you can to twist, breathe, bend and stretch all areas of your ribcage and you'll feel freedom from that tightly wound ball of hats and scarves you were just earlier today.

More about backbending and heart opening:
http://www.msmindbody.com/03-28-06-Heart.html
http://yogajournal.com/poses/finder/browse_categories/backbends

Break 'em hard

It's the holidays, so if you're gonna break diet rules, break 'em hard and nourish yourself with traditions, smiles and um, yule? For me, Christmas means Strufoli–a traditional italian treat of honeyed fried dough. As I kid I'd devour these, especially savoring the pieces at the bottom of the bowl sitting entirely in a pool of thick, vanilla flavored honey. Mmmmmmm This is a sugar spike I'll endure in the name of feeling like a kid again.

Strufoli
2 cups flour
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
colored non-pareil type sprinkles
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs in large mixing bowl. Add all dry ingredients. Mix with your clean, bare hands until dough forms a ball. With floured rolling pin, roll dough onto a well-floured surface to 1/2" thick. This takes some effort! Using butterknife, slice into 1/2" grid. Allowing dough to dry for an hour or so makes the next step easier.

Heat oil in dutch oven on medium heat. Transfer dough pieces into oil, lowering with a slotted spoon. Deep fry one spoonful at a time. Make sure to flip each piece to cook evenly. Cook until pieces are light golden brown, then use slotted spoon to transfer to a brown paper bag from the grocery store. Repeat, one spoonful at a time, until all the fried dough is in the bag.

The brown bags will absorb the excess grease from the strufoli. My mom used to do the frying while I would shake the bags. Then, transfer to a new brown bag and repeat. Store strufoli in bags, preferably near a radiator, for at least 24 hours with regular shaking to keep well mixed. Change bags as they show oil stains on the outside.

Finally, heat honey and vanilla in a large pot over low/med heat. When melted, add strufoli and stir with wooden spoon to coat evenly. Pile into a bowl, including all the honey. Sprinkle with non-pareils. Cover with foil.