Posts from — July 2010

This morning when I woke up, the weather was amazing. The temperature was a cool 70 degrees, and humidity was below 55% for the first time I can remember in a long time…perfect running weather!

However, I decided to keep my promise to myself and my aching body that today would be a day of rest after an intense couple of weeks of rapidly increasing mileage, culminating in a 12 mile run yesterday morning (in heat and humidity, of course). So instead of putting on my running shoes, I decided the “cool” morning was a sign that I should put on a pot of oatmeal!

As my steel-cut oats simmered, I considered what to add to them. I’m out of berries and peaches (hoping to replenish the supply tomorrow at the farmer’s market!) so I opened the fridge and cabinet and just started tossing things in. I went with a bit of almond milk, a spoonful of almond butter, a few dabs of cocao bliss, a spoonful of almond slices, a splash of vanilla, and a sprinkling of unsweetened coconut on top. I took a taste and I dubbed the result “Almond Joy,” not because it tasted like the candy bar (I am not sure I have ever tried that particular candy bar!) but because it was a joy to eat!

I sat down on our deck to enjoy the morning with my oatmeal and raspberry leaf tea, and then remembered…the camera!!! My mother-in-law is a fantastic photographer, and yesterday when I saw her she loaned us her older digital camera, since she has moved on to a newer model. So of course I had to take a photo (or 12) of the oatmeal using the new camera and trying out every setting. I don’t have it all quite figured out yet, but I’m fairly confident that with a little luck and a lot of practice I hope to continue to improve the quality of the photos on this blog. Today’s photos are already an improvement over the ones I’ve been taking using my phone, yes?

After breakfast I just had to sit for a while longer and enjoy the weather, so I grabbed one of the many books I’m working my way through and read a couple of chapters.

I’m loving this book, and the common-sense idea that we should all eat FOOD, not the “edible foodlike substances in the supermarket.”

Speaking of food, lunchtime was another fun example of a meal I put together without a recipe. A few days ago I combined some leftover quinoa with leftover grilled shrimp from the weekend, scallions, chickpeas, cucumbers and tiny tomatoes from my dad’s garden, and a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. It made a delicious salad I have been munching on all week, so I finished it off today for lunch with a carrot muffin and a chocolate-banana-blueberry smoothie. Yum.

Perhaps even more so than oatmeal, I have found quinoa to be a fantastic food to cook on the weekend and keep in the fridge all week, to be combined along the way with whatever I happen to have or whatever strikes my fancy. Pretty much any combo of veggies or fruits, any salad dressing or oil/vinegar you care to top it with will end up being a success. If you don’t believe me, though, and at least need to start with a recipe, try this Simple Quinoa Salad…but then venture out on your own by tossing at least one extra ingredient in there!

I didn’t really set out to have a “No Recipe Day” but I’m glad to have the chance to share my random creations with you in the hopes of inspiring you to feel comfort with “tossing things together” and enjoying the creative satisfaction (not to mention the taste satisfaction) that it will bring!

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Millet’s history can be traced back thousands of years: it was the chief grain in China before rice became popular! It continues to sustain people across the globe, including Africa, China, Russia, and India, because it’s a hardy crop that grows well under harsh or dry conditions.

I’m very new to millet myself, but I consider it a “great grain” because it’s tasty, nutritious, and gluten-free, making it an option as a side dish or in baked goods for anyone with a sensitivity or intolerance for gluten.

More characteristics that make millet great are:

• High in protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, and potassium
• Contains silica, which helps keeps bones flexible in aging process
• Soothing, especially for indigestion or morning sickness
• Anti-fungal; helps ease Candida symptoms
• Improves breath
• Warming; good to eat in cool or rainy weather
• Supports kidneys and stomach

When cooked and served in the most basic way (below), it has a flavor that is reminiscent of crumbled cornbread, and in baked goods can be used as a flour (replacing up to 30% of the flour) or whole to give an extra crunch to a muffin or bread.

Selection and Storage

Raw millet is a small, round, usually yellow grain (although there are red, white, and gray varieties). It is often found in the bulk section of health food stores or in the “natural foods” or “health foods” section of regular supermarkets. It can be stored in an airtight jar or glass container for 6-9 months.

Preparation

How to cook basic millet:

Remember, the texture of millet, like other grains, can be changed depending on whether you boil grain and liquid together, or add it to the already-boiling water. For a softer, more porridge-like consistency, boil the grain and liquid together.

Recipes I’ve Tried and Recommend

• Banana Chocolate Chip Millet Muffins
• Millet and Wheat Berry Salad

Recipes I Have Not Yet Tried — if you try any, please leave me a comment and let me know how they turn out!

• Millet Soup—Foodista.com
• Curried Millet—Institute for Integrative Nutrition
• Autumn Millet Bake—101 Cookbooks
• Tomato, Basil, and Millet Salad—Whole Foods

Millet Information Sources: Health and Beyond, Whole Foods, Wikipedia, and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition student educational materials

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Since I had both millet and wheat berries in my kitchen, I was excited to find this recipe on Foodista! The ingredients make me think of it more as a fall salad, since it contains apples and sweet potatoes and millet is technically a “warming food” even when served in a cold dish like this one, but it made a nice summer evening dinner tonight!

Millet and Wheat Berry Salad

Ingredients:

• ½ cup uncooked wheat berries
• 1 ¼ teaspoons sea salt
• 1 cup uncooked millet
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced (1 1/3 cups)
• 6 scallions with white and light green parts,thinly sliced
• 4 small celery stalks, diced
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled halved lengthwise, and diced
• 1 medium apple, cored and diced
• Mustard-Dill Dressing
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Soak your grains: In one bowl or saucepan, combine wheat berries and cold water to cover by 2 inches. Cover and let stand at least 6 hours or overnight. In another bowl or saucepan, combine millet and cold water to cover. Cover and let stand at least 6 hours or overnight as well.
2. Drain wheat berries and set aside while you bring 4 cups fresh water to a boil in the saucepan.
3. Add wheat berries and 1/4 teaspoon salt to the saucepan and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold running water and drain well. Set aside.
4. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil. Add drained millet and 1/4 teaspoon salt and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 10 minutes. Place in large, shallow container, fluff with fork and spread out. Let stand until cool.
5. While grains are cooking, if using walnuts, preheat oven to 350 F. Spread nuts on baking sheet and bake until toasted, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
6. In small saucepan, bring 3 cups water to a boil. Add sweet potato and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until potato is just tender, about 6 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold running water and drain well.
7. In large bowl, combine wheat berries, millet, sweet potato, toasted walnuts, scallions, celery, cucumber and apple. Add Mustard-Dill Dressing and toss gently but thoroughly to blend. Season with pepper and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Millet and Wheat Berry Salad

Mustard-Dill Dressing

Combine the following ingredients in a bowl or glass jar with lid. Whisk or shake until well mixed.

• 6 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 6 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon tamari or reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
• 1 tablespoon Dijon (or Stoneground) mustard

Mustard-Dill Dressing

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In college, my best friend had a little song she would sing whenever we were having fajitas for dinner…”Oh yes, fajita night…” to the tune of “Ladies’ Night.” She’s a very festive person and always manages to make everything a little more fun with something like that! Anyway, I’ve had that song in my head all day (and no, I don’t know more than one line) in anticipation of fajitas for dinner.

I was humming it as I made guacamole…

…and salsa…

…and black beans…

…and homemade corn tortillas (way easier than I ever imagined)!

I chopped up our veggies, tossed in a little olive oil and seasoning along with a few shrimp, and my husband cooked them up on the grill. Yum!

Fajita Night came together quite nicely.

What did you do for dinner on this fine Friday night? Did you have a song to go along with it?

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This cake does not belong in the health food category, but it’s made with love using the most fresh, natural, whole ingredients available, and I believe that counts for something. In fact, I think it counts for a lot.

I know it will be enjoyed by family and friends this weekend, and I can feel good knowing that although I didn’t provide a low-calorie dessert, I did provide one made from scratch with real ingredients!

To create this recipe, I started with my mom’s classic pound cake recipe but instead of vanilla and almond for the flavorings, I used vanilla and fresh lemon juice and zest, and then added a lemon glaze on top.

P.S. Since this cake has to travel tomorrow, I couldn’t put it on my adorable new cake stand, but I couldn’t resist setting it on there on its plate anyway and taking a photo to share!

Lemon Pound Cake

• 16 oz. cream cheese (not low fat or fat free), softened
• 2 sticks unsalted butter (fresh from farmer’s market if available!), softened
• 3 cups sugar (I used 1.5 cups regular, and 1.5 cups organic evaporated cane juice sugar)
• 6 large eggs (pastured and fresh from farmer’s market if available!)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. lemon zest (from organic lemons!)
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3 cups organic unbleached flour

1. Beat cream cheese and butter.
2. Beat in the sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs.
4. Beat in the flavorings, baking soda, and flour.
5. Spoon into your choice of:
   • 6 greased & floured mini loaf pans, and bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.
   • 1 large bundt pan, and bake at 325 degrees for approximately 90 minutes (but start checking every 5 minutes after 75).
   • 1 large bundt pan AND 1 mini loaf pan (if your bundt pan gets really full like mine did!), bake at 325 for 75-90 minutes but take out mini loaf pan around 40 minutes.
6. Cake(s) will rise and become golden brown on the edges/top. Check with toothpick and be sure the middle is done before removing from oven.
7. Let cakes cool a bit before removing from pans.
8. When cake(s) are completely cool, prepare glaze and pour over the top.
9. Cakes can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in fridge or freezer. They freeze and thaw/reheat very well!

1. Put 1 c. powdered sugar in bowl.
2. Add 2 tsp. lemon zest.
3. Slowly pour in up to 2 Tbsp. of lemon juice, whisking as you add.
4. If too thick, add extra juice, if it gets runny, stop adding juice.
5. When desired consistency is reached, pour over cake(s)!

Lemon Pound Cake

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Whether your motivation is to sneak a healthier ingredient into a treat for your family, or simply to use up an abundance of summer zucchinis, this recipe for zucchini chocolate chip cookies is a winner. I found it in one of my new favorite books, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and have made it several times with positive reviews. In fact, this weekend my parents are having a cookout, and I convinced them to drop the “gourmet” cookies from Costco from the menu by offering to make these instead!

I have adapted the recipe slightly to make it a little more “sneaky,” which meant mashing my zucchini into a pulp in my VitaMix blender rather than just shredding it. If you want your cookies to taste a bit more like zucchini bread, don’t grind your zucchini until it’s totally pulpy, and just double the amount of nutmeg in the recipe. Both ways result in tasty cookies!

If you prefer the sneaky route, follow the recipe below and you could even leave out the nutmeg altogether (although I can’t really taste it in the most recent batch I made). Even with pulpy zucchini you may spot a few green flecks, but for the most part the dough (and the cookies) look and taste like regular chocolate chip cookies. Yum…cookie dough…

The recipe below is also doubled from the original (which yielded me close to four dozen cookies, not two as the recipe said it would), because I have always found that doubling a chocolate chip cookie recipe results in better cookies (and you can enjoy them longer and share them with more people)! Enjoy!

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from the recipe found in the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle website and book

Yield: approx. 90 cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup organic turbinado (or simply brown) sugar
• 2/3 cup honey
• 2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups white flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1⁄2 tsp. salt
• 1⁄2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1⁄4 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 cups zucchini, cut up and beat to a pulp in a food processor or blender
• 20 oz. chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Combine eggs, butter, sugar, honey, and vanilla in large bowl.
2. Combine flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a separate, small bowl and then blend into liquid mixture.
3. Add zucchini and mix well.
4. Stir chocolate chips into mixture by hand.
5. Optional: chill dough in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. I find especially in the summer, this tends to be beneficial and makes dough easier to work with!
6. Drop dough by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, and flatten with the back of a spoon.
7. Bake at 350° for 13-15 minutes.

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I recently tried our next “great grain,” oatmeal, for the first time.

OK, that’s not totally true…but it wasn’t long ago that I tried REAL oatmeal for the first time. I’m not talking about the instant stuff that comes in the little paper packet and you add hot water and call it breakfast. I am talking about true, honest-to-goodness oatmeal, made from steel-cut oats. And it was delicious.

Now, if the instant is all you’ve got, that’s still a better choice than most breakfast cereals, but you are missing out on some serious nutritiousness. Plus, check out that label and notice all the extras put in there. Unless you have the most plain, boring, unflavored kind, you’ve got flavoring in the form of added ingredients that you truly don’t need! Nor do you want them…because I can tell you much, much better ways to get flavor in your oatmeal.

Forms and Health Benefits of Oatmeal

Oats are milled into six basic forms that you can typically find at the grocery store: whole oat groats, steel-cut oats, Scottish oats, rolled oats, oat bran, and oat flour. Each form has a different texture when prepared, different nutritional characteristics, and different cooking time.

I recommend either steel-cut oats (pictured, on left) or old-fashioned whole rolled oats (pictured, on right). Both are fantastic for you! I tend to keep oat bran in my cupboard as well, because it’s great in certain recipes, as you will see below.

Here’s the run-down on good stuff about oats:

• They are nutrient-dense: they contain fiber, protein, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, manganese, and iron
• They have a low glycemic load, which means it has a low impact on blood sugar
• They contain more soluble fiber than any other grain, resulting in slower digestion and an extended sensation of fullness.
• Finally, remember taking oatmeal baths for chicken pox? Well, that was one way of taking advantage of the antioxidants in oatmeal, which decrease inflammation in the body.

Oatmeal Preparation

I find whole rolled oats preferable for a raw treat or for baking, and steel-cut or oat bran for cooking. Raw rolled oats can be mixed with yogurt or almond milk, with nuts and berries added, for a “cereal” that is way more nutritious and filling than anything you can buy in a brightly-colored cereal box!

Cooked steel-cut oats are my favorite. Even throughout this summer, I have been enjoying cooked oatmeal in the mornings. I either cook it and eat it warm, or, more frequently, I cook a big batch of it once during the week and then keep the extra servings in the fridge and enjoy them cold in the mornings. So there’s my tip for anyone who says they don’t have time for “real” oatmeal…make it once, and you can eat it all week!

Now I know you are wondering how I make oatmeal taste so delicious that I have become, well, nearly obsessed with it. I’ll get to that in just a second, but first, here are the basics on cooking your oats:

1. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil
2. Add 1/2 cup of steel-cut oats
3. Simmer with the lid on for 20-30 minutes (check it, you may like it more or less chewy than I do)

This will result in 1-2 servings, depending on how much you want!

“Recipes” for Oatmeal Deliciousness

These are not carefully measured recipes, but they are delicious combinations I have tried out and encourage you to try as well! The basic idea is, take any fruit or nut butter, add to oatmeal with milk (almond, soy, or regular), toss in extras like almonds, raisins, shredded coconut, protein powder, and spices/flavorings like vanilla and cinnamon, and you have a delish combo for breakfast (or lunch, or a snack, or even a dessert!)

• Peaches + milk (almond or regular) + few drops vanilla and/or vanilla protein powder + oatmeal = Peaches & Cream Oatmeal
• Strawberries + milk + few drops vanilla and/or vanilla protein powder + oatmeal = Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal
• Maple Syrup + Cinnamon + milk + oatmeal = Brown Sugar Cinnamon Oatmeal (without using brown sugar!)
• Peanut Butter + raw cacao powder + milk + oatmeal = Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal
• Shredded carrots + milk + cinnamon + few drops vanilla and/or vanilla protein powder = Carrot Cake Oatmeal (raisins optional but fun!)

Get creative…think banana bread oatmeal, coconut cream oatmeal, bananas foster oatmeal, blueberry pie oatmeal…so many possibilities!

Oats also feature prominently in some of my favorite baking recipes for breakfast and treats:

• Oatmeal Pancakes (rolled oats)
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough “Babies” (rolled oats)
• No Need to Count Calories Carrot Muffins (oat bran)

More Oatmeal Recipes & Ideas—from other creative people who share my love of oatmeal!
If you try any of these, please leave me a comment and let me know how they turn out!

• Peach Cobbler Custard Oatmeal—Honoring Health
• Katie’s Better-n-Kozyshack Oatmeal Pudding—Chocolate-Covered Katie (like me, Katie loves oatmeal…check out her other posts about oatmeal while you are there!)
• Warm Gingery Oatmeal—Institute for Integrative Nutrition
• Tribute to Oatmeal—Kath Eats Real Food (TONS of mouth-watering oatmeal ideas here!)
• Easy Homemade Granola—The Amateur Gourmet

Oatmeal Information Sources: Answer Fitness, Wikipedia, Institute for Integrative Nutrition Educational Materials

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Ever since I bought some millet to experiment with in order to write my upcoming “Great Grains” post about the little-known grain, it has been staring at me from a jar on my kitchen counter, basically daring me to give it a try. I’ve gathered up a few recipes now, but until today, hadn’t tried one…of course, being a baked good AND giving me a chance to try making flour in my VitaMix for the first time locked in this recipe as my first millet experience!

The muffins turned out tasty and not overly sweet, which I like. They are somewhat dense, which surprised me since the original post said they turned out fluffy. I’m guessing the denseness may be because there are no eggs and/or because it didn’t require me to use my KitchenAid–I just beat all the ingredients together by hand, and maybe should have beat them more? Regardless, they are yummy, and I love that they have little tiny banana slices on top! The fact that they are made without any refined sugar, of course, makes me happy too!

A few notes for next time are that I’d like to try it with applesauce instead of oil, and I need some more practice with grinding the flour…there are definitely a few whole pieces of millet in each muffin, but no harm done!

Banana Chocolate Chip Millet Muffins
Adapted slightly from Peas and Thank You.

• 2/3 cups millet
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 bananas: 2 mashed + 1 for slicing to top the muffins
• 1/2 cup organic turbinado or brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/2 cup organic milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cups organic chocolate chips (I used Sunspire Grain Sweetened Chocolate Chips)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Measure the millet into a high speed blender (like the VitaMix!), food processor, or spice mill, and grind into a fine texture.
3. Pour into a large bowl and add pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
4. Mash bananas and add the oil, milk, vanilla, and turbinado sugar.
5. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix.
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Fill your lined muffin cups and top each with a banana slice.
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

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My husband showed me The Guacamole Song on YouTube last night and it made me laugh! It also made me hungry for guacamole, but I don’t have the ingredients on hand to make it, so I decided to do the next best thing and just blog about it.

I’ve modified this recipe a bit over time, so I’ll share it again now. Who doesn’t enjoy some guacamole on a Friday afternoon?

Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:

• 3 ripe avocados
• 1 red onion, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large jalapeno pepper, if you like mild to moderate (OR 1 to 2 habanero peppers if you prefer moderate to spicy), stem and seeds removed, minced
• 3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 tomatoes, chopped

Directions:

1. Peel the avocados, remove pit, and mash them using a mortar and pestle or in a bowl using a fork
2. Add onions, peppers, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and sea salt, continually mashing/mixing
3. Add chopped tomatoes right before serving

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Today, the day I have been waiting for arrived…my samples of the new Lärabar flavors came in the mail! Ever since I found out that they were creating the 4 new flavors, I have been stalking the Lärabar displays at all the local Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s and Target stores, hoping to find them, but no luck yet. However, Stacy at Lärabar was kind enough to send me a sample of each, and today they are here!

I couldn’t choose which one to try first, of course, so I opened them all and cut them into bite-size pieces so I could try each one today. Here are my impressions:

• Carrot Cake: If this one had not been released along with some that contain chocolate, I would have given it more attention. Similar to Apple Pie and Banana Bread, this bar truly reminds me of its namesake and is very, very yummy. Sadly, it got overshadowed by…
• Chocolate Chip Brownie: This was a gooey chocolately treat. Definitely a great indulgence when you don’t want to overindulge in the “real thing.” It’s a lot sweeter than a usual Larabar, and I liked it, but not as much as…
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Named for one of my all-time favorite things, this bar is fabulous! It almost tied with my new all-time favorite, which would be, of course…
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip: To. Die. For. Seriously, so tasty. Peanut Butter Cookie is was my favorite Lärabar flavor, so it’s no surprise that I totally love it even more with the addition of the (fair trade!) chocolate chips.

The beauty of Lärabars is, besides being delicious, the fact that they are made with so few ingredients. You can pick up any flavor and look at the ingredients and recognize and pronounce every ingredient. They are all made with basically just nuts (peanuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, etc.) and fruit (dates) and some flavors have a few other things thrown in like cinnamon, unsweetened coconut, unsweetened cocoa powder, etc.

The only thing that will hold me back from ordering a case of my new favorites is the fact that the chocolate chips do contain sugar. The overall sugar content of the new bars with chocolate chips in them is not much higher than the originals, but it does come from sugar in the chips as opposed to natural sugar in the fruit, so I have a feeling that instead of satisfying a sweet craving like the originals do, these might perpetuate my sugar cravings. That’s not to say I won’t enjoy them now and again (assuming they hit my local stores soon) as a special treat, because believe me, I will!

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