Roasted Veggies

This week I have tried three new recipes and all of them have been good. I am telling you Mark Bittman is where it is at. Not only are his recipes very good but they are versatile and are very healthy portions. My favorite thing so far this week was the homemade tomato sauce I made last night. I threw some chicken in for good measure and it was awesome and super duper easy. I will post that soon but today I wanted to post the roasted vegetable recipe from earlier in the week. I had more vegetables in my house this week than I have ever had in one place in my entire life. I bought apples, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, parsley, potatoes, parsnips, onion, rutabaga, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, celery, green beans and porcini mushrooms. I mean the apples, bananas, green beans, onion and garlic are standard items I buy every week but I had never even looked at a rutabaga or parsnips before. It was a little experiment that went well. This recipe calls for certain vegetables but you can certainly add in a few favorites if they are not listed or just alter it to whatever you have on hand. Just keep an eye on it b/c the cooking times might vary depending on how soft or sturdy the veggies you choose are. I added zucchini just b/c I had it left over from the vegetable soup I made the day before. Otherwise I was faithful to this list. This recipe can also be made with or without fish or meat. I opted for chicken tenders but if you are not meat inclined just leave it out.

You will need:

1/2 pound waxy potatoes
½ pound of carrots
½ pound celery root, turnips or rutabaga
½ pound parsnips or beets
1 medium onion chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon fresh minced rosemary or sage (optional)
½ to 1 pound fish fillets, chicken breast or tender, boneless pork chops, or lamb ribs, divided in four portions (optional)
Juice of 1 lemon (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Peel, clean and trim the vegetables as necessary and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Mix them together in a large roasting pan or baking dish along with the olive oil; sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

2. Roast the vegetables for about 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, until they are just becoming tender. Add the garlic and herb if you are using it and toss to combine.

3. If you are adding fish, chicken or meat, lay it directly on top of the vegetables, brushing with some of the oil from the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and return to the oven for another 8 to 15 minutes, depending on what your cooking, basting once or twice with the pan juices. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add the lemon juice if you like and serve.

This makes about 4 servings. Ryan and I were able to eat it for two nights and it was plenty.

Bulgur Pilaf with Vermicelli, and Meat or Cauliflower

I have strayed with the blog as of late. Instead of trying a new vegetable every week I have gone down the path of making everything from scratch and trying brand new recipes. But that does not mean that I have abandoned the idea. When our Farmer’s Market opens in May I will begin again with the original goal of the blog, along with the crazy recipes. What I really need to work on is updating the blog in a more timely manner. I can somehow find time to cook for three hours on Sundays but not time to update. Makes no sense. But on to the recipes.

I made two new dishes last weekend. One of them I have shared below but the other needs severe work before it can see the light of day. This one was Black Bean soup and the other was the Bulgur Pilaf. Neither one of these recipes turned out spectacular but they both have serious potential. I don’t think I have ever made something that looked as unappetizing and smelled as bad as the soup. It does taste alright but I need to try a few things with it before posting about it. The bulgur dish was pretty good and was actually better the second day with one addition. And yes, this is from Food Matters. Best book ever.

What you will need:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
½ to ¼ pound of ground lamb, chicken, beef or turkey; or 1 small head of cauliflower, cored and roughly chopped
Salt and Pepper
1 pound of any type of mushroom
2 medium onions or 1 large onion chopped
½ cup vermicelli, preferably whole wheat, broken into 2 inch or shorter lengths.

If you can not find whole wheat vermicelli feel free to use any type of whole wheat pasta you have including penne, ziti or shells. However, if you use these types of pasta be sure to put them in a plastic bag and smash the crap out of them. I only partially broke up the penne I used and that was a big mistake. The way that these cook requires that they be smaller pieces. Or at least not in a round shape.

1 cup coarse or medium grind bulgur
2 ¼ cups vegetable stock or water heated to a boiling point (which I just realized I did not do. I just added my cold vegetable stock. Whoops)


1. Put the oil in a large skillet or saucepan that can later be covered and turn the heat to medium. Add the meat or cauliflower, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally to break it up, until browned all over, about 10 minutes.

Remove the meat or cauliflower from the pan leaving about a tablespoon of the fat/oil.

Instead of ground chicken I bought chicken tenderloins and cut them up and cooked as described above.


2. Put the pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and mushrooms; cook, stirring until everything is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the bulgur and vermicelli, stirring until coated with butter or oil. Return the meat or cauliflower to the pan and add all remaining ingredients. Turn the heat to low and cover for 10 minutes.

3. Turn off the heat and let the mixture sit for another 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and enjoy!


Makes 4 large servings

I would also suggest missing in cooked Kidney or Black Beans once it is done. I wish I had done it the first night we tried it but it is good without. Probably even better when your noodles cook correctly!

Awesome Healthy Granola

I guess Sunday has become my experimental cooking day. I still cook dinner every night but I tend to go a little overboard on Sunday’s. This past Sunday I made homemade vegetable stock, homemade marinara, homemade crackers and homemade granola. They all turned out well but the granola was the best. On top of it being amazing it was also super easy and it will last forever. This recipe (like many others) is from Mark Bittman’s Food Matters.

I made a half batch of this recipe, leaving out the cinnamon and coconut b/c I just don’t like cinnamon and coconut. I also left out the salt.

You will need:

6 cups rolled oats (not the instant kind)
2 cups mixed nuts and seeds: sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds or cashews ( I used chopped walnuts, sliced almonds and sesame seeds)
1 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut, optional
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
Dash salt
1/2 to 1 cup honey or maple syrup, or to taste ( I used ½ cups of maple syrup)
1 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit, optional

How to prepare:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine oats, nuts and seeds, coconut, cinnamon, salt and sweetener. Place on a sheet pan and put in oven. Bake for 30 minutes or a little longer, stirring occasionally. Mixture should brown evenly; the browner it gets without burning, the crunchier the granola will be.

Personally I had to be careful on this step. Our oven does not heat evenly and it tends to cook things very fast. I took the mixture out of the oven after about 15 minutes to stir and to make sure it wasn’t burning. After an additional 10 minutes I decided it was done. Just keep an eye on it because the last thing you want is burnt nuts! =)

2. After you have decided its done remove it from the oven and add raisins or dried fruit. Cool on a rack, stirring once in a while until granola reaches room temperature. Transfer to a sealed container and store in refrigerator.

And that’s it. Super simple and extremely good.

Quick Blueberry Smoothie

This is something I got from Ellie Krieger during a commercial break. Its super fast and very good.

You will need:

1/2 cup Low Fat Milk
1/2 cup Plain Low fat yogurt
1 cup Frozen Blueberries ( I use Wild blueberries)
1 teaspoon of raw, unfiltered honey ( regular will work but I hear this is better. Reference rant coming soon)
1 teaspoon Blackstrap Molasses (optional, you can just add more honey or a tiny bit of sugar)

And then just throw it all in a blender and bam! Your done.

Lentil Soup

Thought I would make a quick post about a soup that I eat pretty much every week. Its super healthy and very good. As the title suggests it is a lentil soup. You will need:

1 cup dry lentils
14 oz crushed tomatoes
Swiss chard ( usually it is sold in prepacked bundles. Just grab one of those and decide how much you want. Only use the leaves. I usually use about 110 grams.)
Half of a medium onion chopped
Extra Virgin Olive Oil or just some sort of oil or spray to coat the pan
1 cup water












Put the lentils in boiling water and cook about 13 to 15 minutes depending on the consistency you like. I like mine more solid than mushy. While those are cooking put half the onion in a food processor and pulse until very finely chopped. Then do the same with the chard. This can be done by hand if you do not mind larger pieces.












Finally heat a skillet over medium high heat and add the oil. Put the onions in and cook a few minutes until tender. Add the crushed tomatoes, the cooked and drained lentils, the water and finally the chard. Bring up to a boil and let it heat for just a few minutes. And that's it. I can generally get about four 9.3oz servings out of eat batch. I put it in an airtight container the fridge and it lasts about two weeks. Feel free to double the recipe and freeze the extra so that it will last as long as you want it to.

This dish is another that looks pretty gross when its done but I promise it is good stuff!

Beets and Blood

This week's vegetable was going to be the beet.











I have never really heard anything good beets except from Dwight Schrute and I figured I needed to form my own opinion. I ran across a recipe for beet potato chips in Food Matters and figured that potato chips had to be the best way to try this odd looking thing. I read up on how to trim and peel it without turning purple and I actually succeeded in that area.








But this is when it all went wrong. I used a knife for the first few slices and decided that I wasn't cutting them evenly so I grabbed the cheese grater which has a blade on one end.









I took the beet in my hand and slid it right down the side as hard as I could. I sliced the beet perfectly but I also sliced off part of my thumb. Aggg! Ryan was not home so I ran to get a washcloth and the first aid kit all the while getting blood on everything. I bandaged it as best I could but it still ended up looking a little crazy.


















After all of this I decided to finish making the beets that were already cut. All that was left was coating them in olive oil and putting them in the oven. I figured I could do that much and I didn't want it all to have been for nothing. But it was. They were terrible! Gross, gross, gross. I admitted defeat and went to wallow on the couch.

When Ryan got home he helped me change the bandage and that's when it started throbbing. I tried repeating Dalton's little philosophy that "Pain don't hurt" but it didn't help. I am a baby when it comes to these things. I finally decided that I should go to the doctor to get a real opinion.

Ryan took me the next afternoon and after three hours I found out that I had taken a good bit of meat off and that it would take 2 months to heal. The doctor gave me some ointment and instructions to change the bandage twice a day. He also grabbed himself a few times and that was a little unsettling. He was a weirdo. The last part of the day was a tetanus shot. Then we headed out to have dinner with Ryan's parents.

I feel pretty silly about the whole thing but I have learned my lesson. I have also learned that a tetanus shot hurts more the next day than a sliced off thumb. Who knew?

Cabbage

I decided this week the vegetable should be cabbage. Oddly enough I have never really had cabbage. I have tried coleslaw and have always hated it so that was not an option. And I guess I have had it lo mein noodles but that didn’t seem to count. Then I was flipping thru the magazine, Vegetarian Times, and came across a recipe for a Cabbage Calzone. That just seemed like a perfect solution. But I am not going to lie, this recipe shouldn’t really count either. Once it was all said and done I didn’t even know there was cabbage in the calzone. But I refuse to just cook it and eat it. Maybe I will try again. I did find another recipe for a cabbage and chard soup. That could work.


But I will also say that this recipe took me almost two hours to complete. I honestly have no idea why it took so long. It really wasn’t hard. The basic procedure is to chop the ingredients up, throw them in a pot and cook them for a little while. Then put them in the dough and throw it in the oven. And that’s it. I guess most of my time was spent reading the recipe a million times, rolling out the dough by hand and cutting it and then the time it took to cook in the oven. But the end result was very good and I didn’t even miss the meat. Which is weird. All the calzones I have ever had have been full of cheese and pepperoni with the marinara on the side. This calzone has no cheese, no meat at all and the tomatoey part on the inside. I debated most of the day about going to the store to buy some pepperoni but in the end I decided against it. The potatoes and mushrooms more than made up for that texture and filling that I needed.

I have listed the original ingredients below. I made a few changes to this for my version. I did not use red wine vinegar because I did not have any red wine vinegar. I also did not use the parsley or eggs. I added baby portabella mushrooms and a little sprinkling of Cabot 75% reduced cheese and a little parmesan. I honestly didn’t know it was in the calzone after it had been cooked so there really wasn’t a point in that. And finally I made my own dough rather than buying the prepackaged kind because I wanted it to be whole wheat. I have included the recipe for that below as well.


Cabbage Calzone

4 oz small red potatoes, cut into ½ inch pieces (3/4 cup)
¼ head green cabbage, cored and sliced into ½ inch thick ribbons (2 cups)
1 Tbs. olive oil, plus a little more for brushing dough
1 small onion finely diced (1 cup)
4 cloves of garlic, minced (4tsp.)
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
1 15oz can chopped tomatoes
8 pitted Kalamta olives, coarsely chopped
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
3 hard boiled eggs, each cut into 8 slices
3 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley
1 16 oz pkg. prepared pizza dough

1. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until just tender. Remove the plate with the slotted spoon. Add cabbage to pot, and cook 3 to 4 minutes, or until just softened. Drain, and set aside.
2. Heat oil in larger skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook 5 minutes, or until soft and translucent. Add garlic and oregano, and cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes, and simmer 5 minutes, or until most of the liquid has reduced. Add olives and vinegar, and cook 3 minutes more. Remove from heat, and gently stir in eggs, parsley, potatoes, and cabbage: season with salt and pepper if desired. Remove from heat and cool.
3. Preheat oven to 425F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Divide dough into 8 pieces, and roll each into 8-inch diameter circle. Place ½ cup filling on bottom half of each circle, leaving ¾ inch border around edge. Fold dough over filling and pinch ends together to seal. Repeat with remaining dough pieces. Cut 3 small slits in top of calzone. Transfer to prepared baking sheet, and crush with oil. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 8 servings. (I halved everything and made enough filling for just 4 servings)

Whole Wheat Dough Ingredients
· 7 grams Agave Nector
· 3/4 cups warm water
· 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
· 1 ¾ teaspoon olive oil
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 2 cups whole wheat flour

This list is for a one pound bread machine. I simply put it all in the order that my bread machine calls for and put it on the dough setting. Once it was complete I put the dough into a bowl lined with olive oil while I finished chopping all the other stuff for the calzone. Then I rolled it out and used a small plate(which I made sure was 8 inches) to cut out the circles. I probably could have gotten 3 or 4 circles but I just went with two. One of them was perfect and the other was just a little too thin but it sill worked.

So once that was rolled out I put the filling on them and folded it over and threw it in the oven. They came out better than I hoped and were really good. I ate the messy one and saved the better one for Ryan. However, he really doesn’t like tomato in any form other than hidden in a pizza or ketchup so he did not like the fact that the inside had the chopped tomatoes. I am going to end up eating that one too.

Amazing Popcorn Trick

A few weeks ago I decided to stop buying prepackaged popcorn. I was never sure if what I was buying was really healthy or not. I thought that if I bought the plain kernels and popped them myself that I couldn’t go wrong. So that’s what I did. Then Ryan and I stared at the bag of kernels for weeks. Neither one of us really wanted to attempt to cook them on the stove and we also did not want to buy a fancy popper. I am sure there are other options out there but we didn’t look for those either. Then I was reading the ever trusty Food Matters and lo and behold there was the answer. It’s so easy that I didn’t believe it. Here’s what you need:

¼ cup popcorn kernels
2 teaspoons oil (optional)
1 teaspoon salt

Throw all of this into a paper lunch bag. Fold down the top a few times and heat in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes or until the pops are about a second or two apart. To keep it healthy I would suggest seasoning it with fresh herbs or a little more salt. This process really does work believe it or not!

Books

I added a book list to the blog to showcase a few of the books that started me on this "real" food path. I began with Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and while it is highly informative and interesting it will make your head spin just a little. There are food rules but no set recipes or a real guide on how to get started.

For this I would suggest that Mark Bittman. His writing is very easy to read and he offers plenty of tips on how to ease in to the changes in diet. He also provides recipes and food guides that are awesome and I still can't put the book down.

Super Natural Cooking rounds out the list and is mainly a cookbook. However, Heidi Swanson provides great tools on how to build a natural pantry and how to substitute the healthy for unhealthy. She also runs a website called 101 Cookbooks which is full of amazing recipes.

Preamble

Here we are at the very first entry in the vegetable/ healthy eating blog. First let me give a little history about myself and how this whole thing came about. I have been obsessed with logging my food for over a year now. I have weighed, measured and counted just about everything I have eaten ( at least that’s true Monday thru Friday). I do allow myself a little bit of a break on the weekends. Basically taking this approach I have been obsessed with the amount of fat, calories and nutrients in everything I eat. I thought I was eating very healthy, and I guess I was by most standards until recently when I picked up a book called In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Well this book has completely turned everything upside down for me. His basic philosophy is that its not the nutrients you should be worried about but the food you are eating. This may seem obvious but I am dense sometimes. Essentially by focusing only on nutrients any processed food could appear to be healthier than “real” food. This is obviously wrong. For an example take a look at carrots. They are known for beta carotene which is a healthy component of the carrot. But it is just one component. So by just adding beta carotene to a pill or some processed food does not reward you with the same health benefits that eating a carrot would. It’s the system, not the nutrient. Another example would be the low fat trend. So many foods have been altered to be low fat (usually by adding something even worse in its place) but where has that gotten us? We have been eating low fat food for 30 years and it has obviously not helped in the fight against obesity and heart disease. We are all more unhealthy than ever before. The basic message is to get back to the basics. Forget about all the labels and health claims and just eat real food.

My first thought on how to begin this process for myself was to choose a fruit or vegetable that is in season and incorporate it into my menu for the week. The fruit or vegetable I pick will generally be one that I have never eaten or have eaten very little of. After sharing this idea with my husband he suggested I start this blog. Its an easy way to keep up with everything and to really make me accountable. I thought it was a great idea so here we are. On top of this goal I am also going to try and completely do away with or drastically reduce my intake of trans fat (done), refined carbs (going to be almost impossible) and added sugar (pretty possible). In addition to the new vegetable recipes I will be sharing general healthy recipes and ones in which I have removed the above bad ingredients and replaced them with something a little healthier. Such as whole wheat pasta for white pasta or whole wheat flour for white flour, the easiest substitutions of all. Sometimes I will just ramble about food. That can’t be helped.

And just to be clear I do not and can not eat this strict all the time. I love a good cheeseburger and fries as much as the next person, along with pizza and fried chicken. I know I can make these things at home a lot healthier than what I can get eating out. And I do. But sometimes I want Burger King or Pizza Hut or Church’s. So sue me! I am trying. Most of my recipes will be pretty simple and probably plain to most people. I do not like spicy food or really fancy complicated food, but I will include the full recipes so that if you choose to ever make something in the list you can season it and alter anyway you wish.

And now that all the paperwork is out of the way I will finally get to the first recipe. In the next blog entry… Ha!

Spinach and Leek White Bean Soup

Here it is, the star of the week. The leek!




Spinach and Leek White Bean Soup

First of all I do not think the leek was highlighted enough in this dish. I might have to try a different dish pretty soon to make up for it. The recipe is courtesy of All Recipes. I used no fat, low sodium chicken broth and frozen spinach instead of fresh. The ingredients are:

* 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
* 1 leeks, bulb only, chopped
* 1/2 clove garlic, chopped
* 1/2 (16 ounce) can fat-free chicken broth
* 1/2 (16 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
* 1/2 bay leaves
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 2 tablespoons whole wheat couscous
* 1/2 cup packed fresh spinach
* salt and pepper to taste


Makes two servings. To scale up the easy way visit:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-and-Leek-White-Bean-Soup/Detail.aspx


Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic; saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, cannellini beans, bay leaves and cumin. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, and stir in the couscous. Cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in spinach and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.


In the version I made I did not use the bay leaf, cumin or couscous. And I did not serve it immediately. I stuck it in the fridge and ate it for lunch. It was just as good warmed up as it would have been if served immediately.

Here are the pics and comments from the experience. I will say that this is one ugly and smelly dish when its done but its pretty good.

Here is what I started with.

The leek before & after chopping:


My rinsed beans:

I do not have any action shots. I was cooking all alone. This is the finished product. Ugly. But if you like cannellini and spinach then you'll like it.