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Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Get Well Grounded.

Stuffed Winter Squash to Suit the Tastes of Vegetarians & Carni(Omni)vores Alike

Here's what you begin with: Delicata (back) & Acorn (front) Squash.

I believe I have already done my waxing poetic about winter squash in some of my previous posts (Lovin' the Winter Squash & Soup Season), so I'll spare you most of that (can't make any promises) and get right to the recipes.  It's really only one recipe, but I'm including two versions: veggie (using tofu and black beans for protein) and omnivore (using sausage and black beans for protein).  I personally love both -- they are tasty, packed with nutrients, and beautiful on the table (check 'em out in the final product pics at the end).  One final note: if you use delicata squash, the skin will be very tender and tasty, and you should try eating it.  Believe me: it's really good.  You might find the skin of other squashes a little tougher, but you can still eat them if you like.  Enjoy...

Versatile Roasted, Stuffed Winter Squash

Vegetarians: Choose tofu over sausage
Vegans: You're all set with the Veggie option if you skip the goat cheese garnish
(Serves 8)

Ingredients:

oh man, shallots are beautiful!



• 4 winter squash (2 delicata + 2 acorn to keep things interesting?)
• 1/2 cup (uncooked) quinoa -- white, red, or a mixture (makes 1-1/2 cups cooked)
• 6 oz high-quality sausage or organic tofu
• 1 medium red shallot, chopped fine
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small-med sweet yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cups (uncooked) mushrooms of any variety, chopped)
• 4 large kale fronds (~1/2 bunch), torn/chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• ~3/4 cup organic black beans (or use a whole can of Eden black beans if you like)
• 1 med-large tomato, chopped (optional, but adds great color)
• 4 oz goat cheese, for garnish
• olive oil to sautee your veggies
• salt to taste

Making Your Amazing Stuffed Squash:

1. First things first: get your squash cleaned and roasting.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Clean outside skin of squashes well.  Cut each squash in half lengthwise and clean out the centers -- remove seeds, rinse and dry them, and set aside to toast them for your garnish.  Place squash halves skin-side up in baking dishes with ~1/4-1/2 inch of water.  Bake ~40 minutes until soft (a knife will easily slide through the skin).
2. Prepping your main protein (sausage or tofu). For sausage, crumble out of casing into a frying pan over med/med-high heat until browned.  For tofu, cut the tofu into small cubes and either toss with olive oil and salt and bake for ~10-15 minutes at 350 degrees or cook in a frying pan until lightly browned (whichever your preference).  Set aside your main protein for a bit later.
3. Cook your quinoa.  1/2 cup quinoa, 1 cup water, and dash of salt in a small saucepan.  Bring to boil and immediately reduce heat to simmer.  Simmer, covered, until the water is almost all gone (~15+ minutes, depending on your stove), then remove from heat and set aside (still covered) because the quinoa will continue cooking.
4. Meanwhile, sautee garlic, shallot, and onion in ~1 TBSP olive oil until onion is translucent.
5. Add mushrooms to onion mixture and continue cooking.
6. Once mushrooms have reduced, add parsley and kale.  Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until kale is wilted.
7. Add tomato and black beans and combine with veggie mixture.
8. Add sausage or tofu & quinoa and combine over heat to blend flavors. Your stuffing is now ready.
9. By now, your squash is probably ready as well.  Did you remember to toast your squash seeds in the toaster oven (or reg oven) -- salted, drizzled in olive oil, and toasted for ~40 minutes at 250-300 degrees?  Take 'em out now -- you don't want them to burn!
10. Stuff the Squash.  Remove the squash from the oven.  Pour off any remaining water from the baking dishes and flip over squash halves, so they are now skin-sides down.  Add 1/2 cup of your stuffing mixture to each squash half. 
11. Return to oven for ~4-5 minutes.
12. Garnish with toasted seeds & crumbled goat cheese (you can also add the goat cheese before returned stuffed squash to the oven, if you like).

A few pics to whet your appetite.  Veggie and Not-So-Veggie Versions...


Not-So-Veggie (Sausage & Black Bean) Version



Veggie, actually Vegan b/c the goat cheese hasn't been added yet, Version with Tofu & Black Beans

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Enjoy Seasonal Veggies.

Lovin' the Winter Squash These Days

Roasted Delicata Squash with Sweet & Savory Greens

I love winter squash.  There are so many different varieties: butternut, acorn, pumpkins, delicata, and spagetti squash, to name a few.  They keep forever in your kitchen/pantry/cellar without going bad, they are incredibly nutrient dense, they're so sweet and tasty, and they are really great for you for several reasons.  Winter squashes are a great source of carotenes, vitamins B1, B6, and C, niacin, folic acid, and fiber, which means that eating winter squash loads you up on antioxidants, boosts your immunity, helps fight cancers (especially lung cancer), promotes good vision, and may help fight heart disease.  And you know what else?  Adding more naturally sweet veggies to your diet is an excellent way to reduce those out-of-control cravings for sugar.  I know that sounds a little crazy, but you'd be surprised.  So, how great is all that?  Also, you may not know it, or think it would taste very good, but you can even eat the outside skin of most winter squashes (definitely acorn squash and delicata -- you may find some of the other varieties a little tougher, but give 'em a try) and I love the texture it adds to the dishes.  Also, lots of the fiber and carotenoids are present in the skin, so eat up.  Give it a try using delicata squash in this recipe and you'll see what I mean.  Trust me!  Plus, do you really want to try peeling an uncooked squash?  That's no fun.

I just came up with this squash and greens recipe the other night because I had some delicata squash and I had a beautiful bunch of rainbow chard, and I decided to put those hands together for a healthy, tasty meal.  It turned out great.  In fact, I just ate the last of the leftovers for lunch and was reminded of how rich, savory, and sweet it was.  Yum!  Not only will you get all those health benefits from winter squash, but this recipe also ensures that you're getting your daily dose of leafy greens, which are one of the most important and underrepresented foods in the typical American diet.  Alright, on to the recipe...

Roasted Delicata Squash with Sweet & Savory Greens

Ingredients:

• 1 medium Delicata Squash (or large acorn squash)
• 1 large bunch rainbow chard (or other greens, like kale)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small sweet onion, chopped
• 2 tsp 100% pure maple syrup
• 1 generous TBSP tamari sauce
• ~2 TBSP olive oil
• salt to taste



sliced chard stalks



Making Your Squash with Greens:

(serves 3)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Prepare your squash --- (1) wash squash well and cut in half lengthwise; (2) remove seeds, etc. from inside, and set aside seeds for toasting; and (3) cut squash into bite-size cubes (1/2 inch).
3. In a medium bowl, mix together squash, onion, and garlic.  Coat with olive oil, but not too much, and salt lightly.
4. Move squash-onions-garlic mixture to a glass baking dish or cookie sheet and roast in oven for 30-35 minutes, or until squash is soft.
5. While squash is roasting, remove stalks from chard and slice stalks, as you would slice celery (see pic).  In a large pan, sautee chard stalks in a tsp olive oil for 3-5 minutes on medium heat.
6. Add tamari and maple syrup to chard stalks and continue cooking another 2 minutes.
7. Add chopped/torn chard leaves to sauteed stalks, combine, and continue cooking until leaves are wilted (stirring occasionally).
8. Combine roasted squash with chard mixture in sautee pan. 
9. Serve over brown rice (or quinoa) and garnish with toasted squash seeds, if you like.



sauteeing chard stalks with chard greens




Combining roasted delicata squash (beautiful skins, right?) with chard





















Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Eat Whole Foods!

Hot Cocoa (Cacao) in the Raw

Sure, it's hot chocolate season and you should go ahead and indulge because chocolate is good for you.  You've probably heard that before, right?  Remember, though, when people say that chocolate is good for you, they're not talking about processed milk chocolate.  They are talking about dark chocolate (70%+ is the party line), or even better than that, raw chocolate.  Cacao comes from the nuts (the seed from the fruit) of the cacao tree.  Yep, chocolate grows on trees.

Raw chocolate (cocoa, cacao) is super-rich in antioxidant bioflavonoids (more than any other natural food tested so far), which can aid cancer prevention, boost immunity, and help maintain healthy blood flow (regulate BP).  Cacao is a great source of important minerals and vitamins including magnesium, sulfur, calcium, zinc, iron, potassium, manganese, and many B vitamins.  It's also a source of important amino acids and neurotransmitters (tryptophan, dopamine, and others), which promote positive mood and mental alertness, alleviate depression, and can postpone the onset of dementia.  Cacao has anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown to be an appetite suppressant.  But remember: eating processed milk chocolate is not the same thing.  You can sit down and eat a whole bag of mini-Snickers bars near Halloween and you just keep wanting more, but you wouldn't feel that same addictive need to eat a whole bag of raw chocolate.


So, by all means, have your hot cocoa, but this year DO IT RAW.  If you've been making your hot cocoa from packets or big tubs of cocoa mix, you are definitely not alone.  I think most people who make their cocoa this way do so because they think it's easier (instant!).  I'm here to tell you that making your hot cocoa from raw chocolate, natural sweetener, and your choice or milk or milk alternative is easy, fast, tasty, and so much better for you and your family. 

At the end of this post, I'll be leaving you with a recipe for making your own Raw Hot Chocolate with these ingredients: high-quality milk or unsweetened almond milk (for a dairy-free version), raw cacao powder, and 100% pure maple syrup.

But first, here are the ingredients lists for the Regular Hot Chocolate and No Added Sugar Hot Chocolate products from one of the most popular hot chocolate mixes on the market.

Regular Hot Chocolate Mix

11 Ingredients:

• sugar
• modified whey
• cocoa, processed with alkali
• hydrogenated coconut oil
• nonfat dry milk
• calcium carbonate
• salt
• dipotassium phosphate
• mono- and di-glycerides
• artificial flavors
• carrageenan

No Sugar Added Hot Chocolate Mix

14 Ingredients:

• modified whey
• nonfat dry milk
• cocoa, processed with alkali
• malodextrin
• hydrogenated coconut oil
• calcium carbonate
• salt
• dipotassium phosphate
• carrageenan
• acesulfame potassium
• sucralose
• artificial flavors
• polysorbate 60
• mono- and di-glycerides

Wow, that took up a lot of space!  And that was half my point.  You don't need all that in your hot cocoa, do you?  I don't have the space to go through each of the ingredients above, but I'll spotlight 3 of them and tell you a little bit about why they're good to avoid.

Cocoa, processed with alkali - Cocoa powder, great.  Processed with alkali, not so great.  Because it is alkaline (on the pH scale), alkali is added to cocoa powder in many processed products in order to neutralize the acidity of the raw cocoa.  The result is a milder, sweeter powder that mixes more easily with liquids.  That all sounds great, but processing cocoa with alkali also reduces the concentration of antioxidants (specifically, flavonols) in the cocoa, thus negating some of the biggest health benefits of drinking your cocoa.  That's no good.

Carrageenan - Carrageenan is a thickening agent derived from seaweed.  Hey, seaweed's great for you, so that doesn't sound so bad at first either.  The problem is that carrageenan in processed foods can easily degrade into poligeenan, which studies have linked to inflammation, gastrointestinal ulcerations, and cancer.  Why take that risk?

Hydrogenated coconut oil - Again, we start with the positive -- coconut oil is great (one of the only saturated fats that you should include in your diet).  But hydrogenated is BAD.  You always want to run, not walk, from hydrogenated oils.  If you don't already know it: whenever you see "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated", you're looking at a trans fat, the worst kind of fat to ingest.  Trans fats are not naturally occurring fats, rather they are created when hydrogen is added to naturally occurring oils.  Our bodies simply don't know what to do with these foreign substances -- it's kind of like eating plastic -- and trans fats (trans fatty acids) have been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and much more.

Now, on to the good news.  Making your own Hot Cacao in the Raw is so easy and incredibly tasty.  Give it a try this Fall and Winter.  You can probably find raw cacao/cocoa powder at your local health food store.  If not, you can definitely buy it online -- this is one of my favorite online sources of raw cacao powder (and other herbs and spices), but you can also buy from Amazon using one of the links up top. 

Hot Cacao in the Raw

(less than 100 calories per serving, when using almond milk; ~150 calories with milk)

Ingredients:

• 8 fl oz milk (high-quality/organic/raw)
  or unsweetened almond milk (dairy-free alternative)
• 1 TBSP raw cacao powder
• 1-1/2 tsp - 1 TBSP maple syrup (to taste)

Making your Hot Cacao:

1. Heat most of your milk/almond milk in a saucepan on the stove to just about boiling.
2. Leave the rest of your milk/almond milk (~2 TBSP) in the mug and mix with cacao powder and maple syrup.  It may not fully dissolve in cold milk/a.m., but once you add hot liquid, it will dissolve just fine.
3. Add hot milk/a.m. to mug and mix to dissolve cacao and maple syrup.
4. Enjoy.

Alternatively, you can combine your milk and cacao in the saucepan, whisk to combine them while heating, and finally stir/whisk in your maple syrup -- you might find that your cocoa blends more easily with this approach.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well. 

Pesticides, Fruits & Veggies: My Rebuttal to Dr. Oz

You're probably familiar with Dr. Oz, a physician who now has a daily talk show.  I've seen bits of his show several times and I almost always find myself in an emotional struggle while watching.  On the one hand, I think it's great that there's a physician out there, sharing integrative approaches to preventive health and disease management.  He does a lot of good in terms of emphasizing the importance of proper nutrition and addressing hot topics in health and wellness.  That's all great.  But, on the other hand, when I hear him talking about food or supplements (or whatever the topic) I'm often very frustrated by what I believe to be dissemination of misinformation.  I feel like he sometimes offers advice that is less than accurate, perhaps because he thinks the general public won't go along with his recommendations if they're more strict.  I think that's unfortunate.  I think it's irresponsible.  I'm all for offering sensible solutions, but not at the cost of misrepresenting the whole truth, particularly when you have such a huge, trusting audience.  I think, in that situation, it's best to lean towards the side of caution and to be conservative.

Okay, Jen, take a breath.  Sorry about that.  I got really fired up by this latest Dr. Oz encounter, in which he was talking about the top 4 foods to be worried about in terms of pesticide exposure.  He proceeded to uncover each fruit or veggie (strawberries, peaches, apples, and spinach) and discuss how many distinct pesticide residues the USDA had found on them -- each had residues from 40-70 different pesticides.  Dr. Oz proceeded to tell his audience that you can simply soak strawberries in water for 2 minutes to help remove the dirt and pesticides, and then you'll be "pretty much out of the woods".  Next up: apples.  You can just scrub those with a brush.  Next: spinach.  His solution?  Buy frozen because the blanching process (prior to freezing) helps remove the pesticides.  Finally: peaches (the worst in the bunch in terms of pesticides).  This is when he mixed up a solution of water, vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice that you can use to spray your fruit to clean it.  My reaction?  Other than seething and mentally drafting my letter to the The Dr. Oz Show, my reaction was ... B.S.!!!!!  This is absolutely absurd! 

I should also mention that there was an expert on the show, a toxicologist, but Dr. Oz continually blew past her comments.  Every time he offered some absurd solution for washing your pesticide-covered fruit/veggie with baking soda or giving it a water bath (what?!?!), she said, "You should also consider buying organic" and "The only way to be sure is to eat organic".  She repeated this for each of the four highlighted fruits/veggies, and she also made the very important point that pesticides aren't just sitting on the surface of your fruits and veggies, awaiting the baking soda rinse -- they are often inside the cells of your produce because they can travel up from the ground and water into the plants via their root systems.  His response to her suggestion about organic produce was, "Yeh, that's the expensive solution." 

So, what should you do to protect yourself from pesticides on your produce?

Well, here's my rebuttal to "Yeh, ... the expensive solution".  Yes, organic produce costs more than conventional produce.  That's true.  But, let's be a little more open-minded about our options.  There are a number of fruits and veggies that are relatively safe to buy conventionally grown ("The Clean Fifteen", for starters), so you can save your money by not buying organic for those items and you can eat proportionately more of The Clean Fifteen if you're on a tight budget.  The only way to ensure that you're getting the lowest possible amount of dangerous pesticide-residue cocktails on your produce, though, is to make sure you buy organic for the really dangerous ones ("The Dirty Dozen").  And if you feel like you can't afford that, consider this when it comes to the Dirty Dozen: buy organic, but buy less.  Eat more Clean 15 and less Dirty Dozen.  Make peaches a treat instead of a staple, for instance.

And you know what?  Every once in a while, you can buy conventionally grown apples, strawberries, and greens, but make a concerted effort for this to be the exception and not the rule.  And when you do buy conventionally grown Dirty Dozen fruits/veggies, why not give Dr. Oz's recommendations a try?  Give your strawberries a 2-minute water bath.  Peel your apples.  Spray your peaches with vinegar-water-baking soda-lemon juice solution.  Maybe you'll remove some of the pesticide residues on those fruits and veggies, but please don't be fooled into thinking that washing your peaches with vinegar and baking soda is the same as buying organic.

Exposure to these pesticides can lead to asthma and other respiratory distress, cancers, and countless other conditions. Isn't it worth shifting your buying behavior just a bit in order to protect the current and future health of you and your family?  Think about all the disease you'll be preventing and all the money you'll save on future medical bills. 

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Consider Organic, and Learn Your Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen.

Scrumptious September Stew

Hey, I told you how much I love soup.  Tonight I decided to mix it up and make stew.  Alright, alright...it's just thick soup, you got me.  But it's so incredibly good and everything in this dish was locally grown (except the beans).  I'll spare you the soup poetry and get right to the recipe, but I really hope that at least one of these soups/stews I've posted lately has inspired you to put down those canned soups at the store and make your own. 

Kale-Sausage-and-White Bean Stew

For veggie option, simply leave out the sausage -- you'll get your protein from the beans and it still tastes great.  This recipe serves ~8.

Ingredients:

• 3 small yellow onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch kale, chopped/torn coarsely
• 2 c uncooked mushrooms, chopped (I used locally grown shitake and oyster mushrooms)
• 1 lb sausage (I used humanely raised and locally made Italian sausage), removed from casing and crumbled
• 1-1/2 c navy beans (or a 15-oz can, Eden Organic's the best!)
• 5-6 c diced/crushed tomatoes (I used my recently canned tomatoes; can also use canned tomatoes from the store)
• 3 c water
• 1/2 - 3/4 c fresh basil, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 - 3/4 c fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
• 1-2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP butter (or an additional TBSP olive oil)

Making Your Stew:

1. In a large, deep saucepan (or soup pot), sautee onions and garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent.
2. Add kale and sautee on medium until wilted.
3. Remove kale-onion-garlic mixture to a bowl and set aside.
4. Place butter in pan and sautee mushrooms ~2 minutes.  Remove and set aside with kale mixture.
5. Remove sausage from casing and crumble into pan.  Brown sausage over med - med/high heat.
6. Once browned, add 1/2 the tomatoes (~2 cups) and continue cooking over medium heat.
7. Add rinsed beans to sausage and tomatoes, mix.
8. Add basil and parsley, mix, and continue cooking over medium heat.
9. Add mushrooms, kale, onions, and garlic, remaining tomatoes, and water (~3 cups, depending on the desired consistency) to stew.
10. Bring it all to a simmer and keep over heat for ~10 minutes to blend flavors.
11. Salt to taste.
12. You could add some freshly grated parmesan or crumbled goat cheese when you serve, but you absolutely don't need it.  This soup is flavorful and satisfying as is.
13. Enjoy!



shitakes, oyster mushrooms, and kale

 I hope you love it.  I had it for dinner tonight and it took tons of self control to pack up more than half of the leftovers into jars for freezing.  It also took tons of self control to not eat the mushrooms and kale while they were waiting to be added back to the stew (don't they look good on their own?).  But it'll be worth it when I get to have leftover sausage-kale-white bean stew some cold night when I just don't feel like cooking. 


Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Make your own soups and stews.

Canning Up Some Local Phytonutrients & Phytochemicals for Winter

If you're already on my mailing list, then you received the September newsletter this morning.  The September newsletter features an article with 5 important tips for boosting your immunity this Fall, as well as a story about canning late summer fruit and recipes for Peach-Ginger Preserves and Peach-Applesauce.  If you didn't receive today's newsletter, you can sign up here.

I realize that my canning stories so far have been all about fruit, but canning veggies is great too.  This afternoon I headed to a local farmers market and got tons of ripe tomatoes and red peppers, and this evening I've been canning them so I can cook with local fruits and veggies this winter. 

Here's what I canned tonight:

• roasted red peppers, in olive oil
• roasted roma tomatoes, in olive oil
• diced field tomatoes with basil

And here's how...



almost done.  maybe 5 more minutes?

Canning Roasted Red Peppers

I used 9 med-lg red sweet peppers (like in the picture above) & 8 red bell peppers.  You'll also need a bunch of olive oil (the amount really depends on how you pack your jars) and some sea salt to taste.

This produced three 12-oz jars, one 8-oz jar, and two 4-oz jars.

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Deseed the peppers and cut lengthwise into strips (~3/4-inch wide).
3. Coat in olive oil.
4. Lay out (in one layer) on a baking sheet, skin side up.
5. Sprinkle with salt.
6. Roast at 425 for ~20 minutes (time will depend on thickness of peppers), until softened and just starting to blacken in spots.
7. Add to sterilized canning jars and cover with olive oil.
8. Process jars for 10 minutes, as you would with any canning process.

10 more minutes???

Canning Roasted Tomatoes

I roasted 10 large roma tomatoes (you can roast any kind of tomato, from tiny cherry tomatoes to large field tomatoes, but be aware that the roasting time will be shorter as the size of your tomatoes/pieces gets smaller).  You'll also need olive oil, sea salt, and garlic (if you like).

This produced two 8-oz jars and one 4-oz jar, all well packed.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cut tomatoes into quarters (these romas were large, so I cut each of these pieces in half again).
3. Toss cut tomatoes in bowl with olive oil and salt to coat.
4. Place tomatoes on baking sheet (skin side down).
5. Sprinkle minced garlic over tomatoes -- try to get the garlic directly on the tomatoes; otherwise it will burn to the sheet (this is optional -- it's great without garlic too).
6. Roast uncovered for 1h 45min - 2 hours, depending on size of tomatoes.  Remove from oven when tomatoes begin to blacken around the edges.
7. Add to sterilized canning jars.  Cover with olive oil.
8. Process for ~10 minutes, as you would with any canning process.

Canning Diced Tomatoes with Basil

I used 9 regular-size (med-large) field tomatoes, ~2 TBSP olive oil, & 1/3 cup basil (or 1-2 TBSP dried basil).

This produced four 16-oz jars and two 12-oz jars of diced tomatoes with basil.  Can't wait to use these for making soups, stews, etc. this winter.

1. Chop tomatoes to desired size, saving all tomato juice while chopping.
2. Add tomatoes, 1-2 TBSP olive oil, and basil to large, deep pan.
3. Mix over medium heat for ~10-15 minutes to combine flavors.
4. Ladle into sterilized canning jars.
5. Process ~10 minutes, as you would with any canning process.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.