Recipes Categories
Monday
Nov092009

Weekly plan, 11/9

Organic delivery this week: 3 bartlet pears, 2 ambrosia apples, 1 bunch red seedless grapes, 2 kiwis, 1 bunch red kale, 1 bunch spinach, 1lb finger potatoes, 1 bunch carrots with tops, 1lb beets, 1lb red onions, celery

Dairy delivery this week: Two 1/2 gallons of 2% milk, 1 dozen eggs, 1 pint cottage cheese

Monday - It's a book club night, so we're having breakfast for dinner to make it easy. Scrambled eggs, the rest of the turkey bacon I bought last week, fresh bread, and oranges. Yum.

Tuesday - Mediterranean salmon and noodle bowl (using spinach from the organic delivery)

Wednesday - Last week's plan got a little blown out of the water (hey, it happens), so we'll finally have that herbed sweet potato and bean hash I planned (using sweet potatoes and onions from our delivery, and beans from the pantry). (Vegetarian meal)

Thursday - Lentil kale soup (using kale, carrots, potatoes, and celery from the organic delivery, lentils from our pantry, and homemade veggie stock from the freezer)

Friday - Leftover sweet potato hash

Saturday - Leftover kale soup

Sunday - Dinner with family

Other things we'll be cooking this week: bread, more granola, and maybe, just maybe, those bagels?

Grocery list - For dinners this week I'll need salmon, red and yellow peppers, whole wheat fettucini, soy miso, and fresh parsley. I'll also be getting more flour, yeast, and brown sugar for our pantry. That's actually about it this week.

Friday
Nov062009

Crunchy granola

We've made this a couple of times in a couple of different ways. The first time I followed the recipe as is, and it turned out just fine. The second time I made it using extra cinnamon pureed dates as a sweetener instead of honey. We all liked the second version better, plus it's lower on the glycemic index, so that makes it better for you.

Crunchy granola

Origin: New York Times
Yield: 8 cups
Prep/cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
  ● 6 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking or instant)
  ● 2 cups mixed nuts and seeds: I used sunflower seeds, chopped pecans and almonds, and ground flaxseed and wheat germ.
  ● 1 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
  ● 2 tsp. ground cinnamon, or to taste
  ● Dash of salt
  ● 1/2 to 1 cup honey or similar sweetener (I used pureed dates), or to taste
  ● 1 cup raisins or dried fruit

Directions:
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.

2. Remove pan from 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; it will keep indefinitely.

To make the pureed dates I took a handful of dates, removed the seeds, and put them in the food processor along with about a half cup water to start, adding more as needed to achieve a honey-like consistency (if you have it, a blender would work better).

Another note—Into this base of rolled oats you can stir just about any dry ingredient imaginable: other grains, like flakes of rye or wheat; dried fruit; spices, from cinnamon to vanilla to nutmeg to cardamom; orange zest, crystallized ginger, peanut butter, even chocolate chips. And of course, any nut or seed you can think of: I favor a combination of cashews, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and pecans.

Wednesday
Nov042009

Baked sole with asparagus (and a lot more)

This one has a short story behind it. Calvin and I, shopping this morning without a full shopping list, found ourselves listening in on a conversation between a customer and the man working the seafood counter at Whole Foods. You wouldn't think it could be all that exciting, but it turns out that the man working the seafood counter at Whole Foods used to be a chef. A chef who worked mostly with seafood. Apparently Whole Foods pays him more than whatever restaurant he left who knows how long ago. We like seafood, and there's no doubt it's good for you, so Calvin and I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and came home with something I'd never fixed before and had no idea how to prepare—sole filets—and a short description of how an ex-chef working the seafood counter at Whole Foods might prepare it. The words I heard were butter, chives, bacon, feta, flour, salt, pepper, and asparagus. A few internet searches later and this is what I came up with. My own concoction, even. Jon said it was good, so we'll be trying it again to make sure it wasn't a fluke. I had to guess on the cooking time, so I took an average from other recipes. I think it may have been too long, so I'll check into that next time.

Baked sole with asparagus

Ingredients:
  ● 4 sole filets
  ● 4 strips turkey bacon
  ● 1 cup feta cheese
  ● flour
  ● salt & pepper
  ● 1 bunch asparagus
  ● dry white wine
  ● 4 cups water

Directions:
1. Heat medium pan over medium-low heat. Add bacon and saute until golden brown, turning once. Remove from pan and set aside. Keep drippings in pan.
2. At the same time, in a medium sauce pan bring water to a boil. Reduce heat and add 12 asparagus spears. Simmer for 1-2 minutes to blanch, then remove stalks from water immediately and set aside.
4. Rinse sole filets and pat dry. Dust with flour, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Turn over and repeat. Lay one strip of bacon on top of each filet, then sprinkle each with ~1/4 cup feta. Lay 3 asparagus spears at one end of the first filet, then roll filet around asparagus, bacon, and feta. Place seam side down in a small glass baking dish. Repeat for each remaining filet. Pour enough wine into baking dish to cover bottom. Spoon a little wine over each filet. Bake, covered with tinfoil, at 400 for 15-20 minutes, or until fish is flakey and opaque.
5. When fish has 5-10 minutes left to bake, reheat bacon pan then add enough wine to just barely cover bottom and deglaze pan. When wine starts to simmer add remaining asparagus spears saute until fork tender. Do not over cook. Serve alongside fish. Brown rice and pomegranates are good on the side.

Tuesday
Nov032009

A weigh of life

I hate those cards handed out by so many different grocery stores everywhere—the cards which supposedly get you special so-called member deals, but which really just help that store keep track of all your purchases. The truth, though, is that these cards can be helfpul—when we still shopped at Kroger our Kroger Plus card came with a monthly coupon and idea booklet that was targeted to our interests specifically. That was nice. Then last week my Plum Market came in even more handy—it won me a store tour led by a locally well known nutritionist, Stacy Goldberg of A Weigh of Life. Although a lot of it was sort of a recap for me, it was a grand old time and came with a free coffee drink (of my choosing, even) and a number of store gifts, including a really cool reusable Plum Market shopping bag. Sweet. Here's a sort of run down of what we talked about during the over one hour store tour:

Produce
We all know we should be eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, but do you really know what that means? The CDC has a fruit and veggie calculator on their website, according to which I, based on my age, gender, and daily activity level, should be consuming 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables every day. What we talked about with Stacy, standing in the produce department of our local store, was vibrancy; it is important to get all the colors in your diet—green, red, orange, and yellow—over the span of a month, and the darker the color the better. Stacy recommended focusing on one color each week, picking out red vegetables, like red chard and beets, and red fruits, like pomegranates and apples, one week, then orange vegetables the next. Personally, I'd rather mix up my colors over a week, focusing on one color a day (I think I'd get pretty bored of red by Wednesday, but that's just me).
The next question was fresh, canned, or frozen? I think many of us know by now that canned fruits and vegetables are low on the recommendations list, but what about frozen? While fresh vegetables are highly recommended while in season, Stacy recommends frozen as a good alternative to vegetables that you are craving when they are out of season; vegetables that have been frozen were picked at peak ripeness and flash frozen near their growing source, making them a good source of nutrients while also being better for the environment, since they don't require pushing vegetables to grow in unstable environments off season, or being shipped in small quantities several times a week over long distances.
One last tip from Stacy—if you tend to be short on time during the week, preparing vegetables to be cooked or eaten raw (washing, trimming, cutting up) when you bring them home from the store can make you far more likely to take advantage of them throughout the following week.

Protein
Whether you're a vegetarian, a vegan, or an omnivore, protein is a integral part of your diet. In addition to its other values, protein stabilizes blood sugar to help keep you feeling full so you won't over eat throughout the day. Healthy fats also do this, so finding protein sources with healthy fats is like a double whammy. Nuts, seeds, peanut butter, and fish, in particular salmon, are all great sources of protein and healthy fats. Proving once again that it's easier to be healthy if you're rich, Stacy recommended eating salmon 1-2 times per week. Wild caught salmon. In my dreams. The short of it? 20-30% of your total daily calories should come from protein.

Grains
They word of the day is whole, as in whole grains. Whole grains are higher in fiber, and fiber is good for your body. It can get tricky, though—buying bread that says "whole wheat" does not mean that it is made with 100% whole grains. The best way to shop for the healthiest grain products is by looking for the new 100% whole grain stamp. Again, it can be tricky—there are two different stamps, one that simply says "whole grain," implying at least 8g of fiber per serving, and one that says "100% whole grain." The latter, of course, is the one you're looking for, although either is a better choice than a product of only refined grains.
The other shocker about pasta? Portion distortion—an appropriate portion of pasta isn't that plateful of spaghetti you've been enjoying for dinner, an appropriate portion of pasta is merely 1/3 of a cup. Yep, that's it. Enjoy it.

Nutritional Density
This was the ultimate message I came away with after the tour with Stacy: whenever we choose a food, whether for a snack, a breakfast, a lunch, or a dinner, the key is to choose one with the greatest benefits and the lowest junk content. Look for foods with a good level of protein, fiber, and nutrients, but a low level of sugars and fats. Think of it as your own personal food bank—where do you want to spend your daily allowance of sugar? How about your daily allowance of fats?
Here's an eye-opener of an example: many people reach for a flavored yogurt as a good protein option, especially for a snack or at lunchtime, but flavored yogurts have a relatively high sugar content, many of them upwards of 20g. Since a large chocolate chip cookie has about the same sugar content (!), I'm guessing that most of us wouldn't choose a yogurt to be our sugary treat for the day. If you were choosing that yogurt as a healthy source of protein you might want to look elsewhere for a protein that won't cost you so many sugar dollars (like a handful of nuts), or for a healthier yogurt option. And eating that chocolate chip cookie is a good thing, as long as it's budgeted in—making foods off limits can just make us want them all the more.

My favorite key phrases of the day: It's less about what you eat, and more about how much and how often; eat a vibrant diet rich in deeply colored produce; where do you want to spend your sugar and/or fat dollars each day?

Monday
Nov022009

Weekly plan, 11/2

Organic delivery this week (we decreased to the small box this week): 2 rome apples, 2 bananas, 2 red pears, 2 kiwi, 2 bunches of kale, 1lb beets, 2lb yellow onions, 1lb garnet yams, 1lb sweet onions, .75lb roma tomatoes

Dairy delivery this week: Two 1/2 gallons of 2% milk, 6 dozen eggs (5 dozen to take for the breakfast tailgate on the weekend!)

Monday - Leftover boiled dinner (we had so much food in the house last week we're still eating leftovers!)

Tuesday - Baked sole with turkey bacon and asparagus in a white wine sauce, with brown rice and sauteed red chard (brown rice from our pantry)

Wednesday - Leftover zupa toscana (I told you we had too much food around here!)

Thursday - Herbed sweet potato and bean hash with eggs (using eggs from the dairy, sweet potatoes and onions from our delivery, and beans from the pantry). (Vegetarian meal)

Friday - Vegetarian bok choy with red cabbage, tofu, and rice noodles. (Vegetarian meal)

Saturday - It's a tailgating day, so a light dinner it is. Cheese, fresh bread, and edamame (all from the fridge/pantry/freezer). (Vegetarian meal)

Sunday - Leftover bok choy and sweet potato hash. (Vegetarian meal)

Other things we'll be cooking this week: I'm still trying to get to those bagels ...

Grocery list - For dinners this week I need a lot! We'll be buying sole, turkey bacon, asparagus, white wine, red chard, kale, bok choy, tofu, red cabbage, sesame seeds, and tamari. A few other fun things on our list this week are pomegranates, greek yogurt, OJ, cereal, and organic cider. Food can be so fun!