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. 

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. 

Soup Season's Started

Sweet Winter Squash Soup, garnished with Squash Seeds

I love soup!  Soup is comforting, healing, warming, and nutritious.  All summer long I pretty much go without soup.  I naturally get into more of a raw food -- tons of fruit and veggies -- mode, and soup just doesn't seem to make sense.  So, by the end of summer, I start my love affair with soup all over again.  For me, this has started to happen over the past couple weeks. 

Here in NH, we had a short stretch of cold, rainy weather a couple weeks back, and that was my excuse to make my first soup of the season: chard and ceci beans (chickpeas) in my homemade chicken broth {recipe #1 below}.  Last week, I found myself with an interesting new winter squash from the farmers market and some hand-picked apples from a local orchard, and that's when I made soup #2: winter squash-apple soup with kale, dulse, and pinto beans {recipe #2 below}.  And just the other day, I made soup #3: hearty lentil soup with swiss chard {recipe #3 below}.  It's so nice to enjoy these soups freshmade, but I also try to freeze half the pot in single-serving jars because it's great to have a ready-made meal on those nights when you come home tired and just don't feel like cooking.

So, get out your big soup pot (and some jars for freezing) and give one or all these recipes a try. 

Swiss Chard, Chickpea, & Chicken Soup (*veggie option too)

Ingredients:

• 8 cups chicken broth (*or veggie broth)
• 2 cups water
• 4 small sweet onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch swiss/rainbow chard, stalks sliced and leaves chopped
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• sea salt, to taste

Making Your Soup:

1. In a large soup pot, sautee onions in 1 TBSP olive oil, until soft and translucent.  Add some chicken (*or veggie) broth if the onions begin to stick.
2. Add garlic, chard stalks, celery, carrots, and 1/2 cup broth, and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add remaining broth, water, and chickpeas.  Bring to a boil for 3-5 minutes.
4. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for ~10 minutes.
5. While soup is simmering, chop chard, parsley, and basil.
6. Add chard, parsley, and basil, and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes, until chard is tender.
7. Salt to taste.

Sweet Winter Squash Soup (with kale and pinto beans)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked winter squash (1/2 med-lg. winter squash) -- save your squash seeds.  rinse them, coat with olive oil and salt, and toast in oven.  set aside to garnish your soup.
• 2 small sweet onions, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 1/4-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and minced/grated (~1 TBSP)
• ~1-1/4 cup pinto beans, cooked (or, a 15-oz. can) -- could also use aduki beans
• 3 cups veggie/chicken broth (or water)
• 1/4 cup dulse (or other seaweed), cut into small pieces
• 3 med apples, cooked and chopped (or 1 cup unsweetened applesauce)
• 4 fronds kale (~1 cup, uncooked)
• sea salt, to taste
• 1-2 TBSP olive oil

Making Your Soup:

1. Sautee onion in olive oil for a few minutes.
2. Add celery and ginger, and sautee another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add 1 cup veggie/chicken broth and HALF the beans.  Sprinkle with salt and keep on medium heat another 2-3 minutes.
4. Combine cooked squash, cooked apples/applesauce, sauteed veggies/broth in food processor.
5. Add another cup broth and 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar to food processor.  Puree.  Salt to taste.
6. While soup is in processor, sautee chopped kale in 1/2 TBSP olive oil.
7. Return mixture to soup pot and heat with sauteed kale, remaining pinto beans and final cup veggie/chicken broth.
8. Simmer on low-med heat for ~10-15 minutes
9. Garnish with roasted squash seeds (or roasted edamame)

Hearty Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 med-lg sweet onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 celery stalks, sliced
• 1 bunch swiss/rainbow chard, slice stalks & chiffonade leaves
• 3-4 carrots, sliced thick
• 5-6 new potatoes or fingerlings (I used purple potatoes), thinly sliced
• 4 med-lg tomatoes, chopped (or 28-oz can diced/crushed tomatoes)
• 8 cups chicken or veggie broth
• 3-4 cups water
• 1-1/3 cups dry lentils
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• sea salt, to taste

Making Your Soup:

1. In a large soup pot, sautee onions, garlic, celery, and chard stalks in olive oil until onions are translucent.
2. Add potatoes and carrots. Sautee 2-3 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes. Cook another 3-5 minutes.
4. Add lentils. Mix with veggies over heat.
5. Add broth and water.  Bring to a boil.
6. Cover and cook at a soft boil/simmer for ~30 minutes.  After 15 minutes, add chard leaves.
7. Salt to taste.
8. Garnish with fresh-grated parmesan, if you like.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.

I Got Some Beautiful Bok Choy, But What Do I Do With It?

Last week I showed you pictures of all the gorgeous fruits and veggies I got at the farmers' market, and I promised you some recipes.  I'll start here by telling you what I did with my bok choy.

First off, are you familiar with bok choy?  Bok Choy is a beautiful, Asian leafy green veggie.  It's a member of the plant family Cruciferae (also called Brassicaceae), which means that it's in good company with these other cruciferous veggies: broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, turnips, radishes, watercress, and arugula, to name a few.  Bok choy has a high water content, which makes it great for eating raw and for stir frying (fast cooking) -- in fact, if you've ever ordered "Buddha's Delight" from a Chinese restaurant, bok choy was one of the main ingredients, so you may already love bok choy without even realizing it.

Leafy green veggies are sadly underrepresented in the diets of most Americans, which is unfortunate because they are packed with much-needed nutrients, as well as many micronutrients (phytochemicals) that help protect our bodies from cancer and other diseases.  Here's a short list of some of the great stuff packed into your dark leafy greens: magnesium, calcium, folacin (folic acid), flavonoids, carotenoids (like beta-carotene), and vitamins A, C, and E (which are all antioxidants).  Good stuff!  Alright, I'll stop with the "eat your greens" promotion now and show you the two things I did with my bok choy this week. 

I had one large head of bok choy and used it to make both dishes.  First, I separated 6 large stalks from the leaves and set those aside for my Bok Choy-Carrot Salad.  I used the remaining stems (~6?) and all the leaves (from ~12 stalks?) for my Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Celery and Ginger.  Both were really great.  I was particularly surprised by the subtle, and super yummy, flavor of the bok choy, celery, and ginger dish.  Enjoy.

Bok Choy - Carrot Salad

Remove the leaves and set aside for our next recipe.

Salad Ingredients:

• 6 large stems of bok choy, sliced thin (kind of like julienned)
• 2 medium carrots, julienned (you could also grate the carrot)
• 2 tiny tart apples, sliced and cut into matchsticks
• 1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds, toasted 

Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp raw honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Hmmnn...I got a little spacey and forgot

to take a pic of the finished salad.  Oops.

So easy!  All you have to do is combine all your sliced/julienned salad ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix your dressing ingredients by whisking in a separate, small bowl.  Toast your sunflower seeds -- I just tossed them in a small sautee pan on med-high heat and kept tossing them until 1/2 had browned slightly.  Then...just mix it all together.  Refrigerate.  Eat it up.




Bok Choy with Celery & Ginger

(I got this recipe from a nice book called Greens Glorious Greens.  Check it out if you want to start eating more greens, but you aren't familiar with them and don't know what to do with them.  It's a great resource!)

Ingredients:

• 1 head bok choy (or the leftover leaves and stalks from your bok choy-carrot salad)
• 1/4 - 1/3 inch piece of ginger root
• 2-3 celery stalks
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 TBSP water
• ~2 TBSP walnuts, chopped coarsely and toasted
• salt (to taste)

Directions:

• Rinse bok choy with cold water. Cut off the thickest part of the stalk from each frond and slice into pieces, ~1/3-inch wide and 3-4 inches long.  Cut the leaves into strips (or chiffonade).  Set aside.
• Slice celery into 1/4-inch diagonal pieces.  Set aside.
• Peel ginger.  Slice into thin pieces.  Set aside.
• Toast the walnuts.  Set aside.
• Preheat large wok or deep sautee pan over high heat.
• Put the oil in the wok/pan and swirl to coat the bottom and sides.
• Add the ginger first.  Stir fry for 10 seconds.
• Add the celery and stir fry for another minute, until color brightens.
• Add the bok choy stem slices.  Stir to combine with ginger and celery.  Stir while the veggies cook for about 1 minute.  Then add the bok choy leaves.  Continue stirring while cooking for another minute or so.
• Add 1 TBSP water, sprinkle with salt, and cover.  Cook for another minute -- the leaves should be wilted, but the stalks will be crisp-tender.
• Remove from heat.  Garnish with toasted walnuts.

So, there you have it.  Two yummy bok choy recipes -- one hot, one cold.  I hope you give them a try.

How do you prepare bok choy?

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Eat Greens.

Get to Your Local Farmers Market -- It's So Good Right Now!

I just got back from one of my local farmers markets (in Portsmouth, NH) and everything was so beautiful that I just wanted to post a quick reminder for all of you to get out there too!

I only have time right now to post a few pics because then I'm off to a (belated) graduation party with a bunch of my fellow holistic health coaches from the Boston area.  So, I hope these pics motivate you to get out to your local market.  I'll post some recipes over the coming week using my ingredients gathered today:

• bok choy
• sweet red peppers
• yellow onions
• lacinato ("dinosaur") kale'
• rainbow chard
• a beautiful variety of cherry and grape tomatoes (check 'em out below)
• garlic
• cukes
• winter squash
• and maybe even the spicy Italian sausage (local, humanely raised/animal welfare approved) I got last week

My Haul.  Can't wait to start cooking!

Recipes to follow.

Do you frequent your local farmers markets?  Do you belong to a CSA?  How's your garden doing? 

Please share with us what you've been harvesting/buying and what you're doing with it.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well. 

Midnight Canning: Blackberry Jam and Apple-Mint Jelly

Friday night I went to my good friend Sadie's house to hang out and do some canning.  We had grand plans to make blackberry jam, apple-mint jelly, pesto, and I think there was something else (clearly we never got that far).  Let me start by saying that my friend Sadie is absolutely amazing!  She has an almost-2-year-old son who, as adorable and wonderful as he is, struggles with sleep.  You moms (and dads) out there know that this means Sadie now has a less-than-optimal relationship with sleep as well.  Knowing a little about the energy needed to get through those long nights, and the days that follow, makes all the things she does seem even more impressive to me (oh, did I mention she's also writing her dissertation?).  So, when I showed up at Sadie's house on Friday night and we sat down to a beautiful and delicious, homecooked dinner (I really should have taken pictures!) made from organic ingredients, 99% of which she grew in her backyard garden, I was humbled.

We enjoyed a leisurely dinner, a little Petite Syrah (gotta get those polyphenols!), and some great conversation (including a lengthy discussion about midwives, doulas, obstetricians, cesarean sections, and womens' intuition).  Then, around 10:30pm or so, we figured we'd better get cookin'.  Where had the time gone?  Ah well, we headed out to the garden in the pitch-black darkness to collect the herbs for our jelly and pesto.  It was absolutely gorgeous outside: the stars were dense and brilliant, the night was cool and crisp (you could feel autumn around the corner), and the air smelled of mint and basil.  We spent the next several hours making blackberry jam and mint jelly, largely from ingredients foraged from Sadie's garden and neighborhood.  I cannot wait to break into a jar of this blackberry jam!  We didn't get around to the pesto, but I left with a big bag full of fresh basil and wound up making that on Saturday (Thanks, Sadie!).

Some of you may be wondering what the point of this post is, where it fits in to the general health forum we've got going here.  Glad you asked.  My Friday evening with Sadie showcased so many things that I feel are integral to good health.  To name a few... Spending time with friends and family.  Nurturing good, supportive relationships.  Growing and cooking your own food.  Eating mindfully.  The importance of good sleep.  Trying new things (for us that meant apple-mint jelly).  I enjoyed every minute of it.  And now, days later, I can still feel the benefits of spending that relaxing evening with a good friend. 

It's not just food that nourishes us.  Not even close!

What non-food things in your life nourish you?  Can you find a way to make room for those things in your busy schedule?  Isn't it worth it?

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Do What You Love.  Get Moving.  Be mindful.

Cool Your Tastebuds with Kolrabi-Apple Salad

Thanks for starting to use the feedback boxes at the end of posts.  I'm hearing that you want more recipes, so here's one more to help you cool down and refresh your tastebuds after those stuffed poblanos.

Last week during my tour of area farmers markets, I bought some kolrabi.  I'd never had kolrabi before and I didn't really know what to do with it.  But I decided to buy some and figure it out.

I got it home, cut off a little piece, and gave it a taste.  I found it to be kind of like jicama in texture, but with a sweetness and a mild veggie flavor (some say it's like broccoli, but I found it to be more like early turnips).  The taste reminded me of a salad I'd made last fall with turnips, radishes, and apples, so I substituted my kolrabi for turnips and made a nice refreshing salad.  Give it a try.  I was never a fan of radishes, but I love them in these salads.  And I think the kolrabi was a great addition.  I'm not so great with exact amounts because I just love to play, but here's my best recreation.  Enjoy!

Kolrabi-Apple-Radish Salad
(This made ~2-3 servings, as a side dish)

• 1-2 kolrabi (sliced, I peeled half the skin off because I wanted to keep some of that beautiful purple color) --- in place of kolrabi, you can use 4 small, sweet white turnips
• 1-3 radishes, depending on your love of radishes (sliced)
• 2-3 stalks celery (sliced)
• 1 small apple, sliced thin
• ~1-1/2 tsp lemon juice
• ~1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt to taste

Just combine all the sliced/chopped (however you prefer them) veggies in a bowl.  Then toss with lemon, olive oil, and salt to taste.  Eat immediately or chill for later.  Keeps well for a few days. 

Have you tried kolrabi?  Tell us how you like to eat it -- raw?  cooked?  What's your recipe?


Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Try Something New.

Tri-Market Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Over the last 8 days, I've been to 3 farmers markets in honor of National Farmers Market Week 2010.  Okay, you got me -- I'll use any excuse to hit the farmers markets.  I usually head to my local farmers market (in Newmarket, NH) on weekends, but this week I also went to Exeter on Thursday and Portsmouth today.  I love our local market, which happens to be the first town farmers market in our area that was open all winter long, but the Exeter and Portsmouth markets are much bigger and have a greater variety of produce.  I was in heaven!

I got all sorts of wonderful things and have been doing tons of cooking this week.  Tonight, using ingredients from all three farmers markets, I created these Tri-Market Stuffed Poblano Peppers.  I made mine with local sweet Italian sausage (from the Newmarket farmers market), but if you want to make this recipe vegetarian*, just make the veggies without the sausage and bulk them up with some brown rice and beans.  I'm sure I'll be making the vegetarian version soon because they were incredible!

Tri-Market Stuffed Poblano Peppers

(makes 4 peppers, 4 servings)

Here's What I Used:

• 4 poblano peppers [Portsmouth]
• 4-5 leaves dinosaur kale [Exeter]
• 1 medium sweet onion [Portsmouth]
• 8 roasted Roma tomato halves (I roasted my own tomatoes earlier in the week, but you could also use sun-dried tomatoes) [I roasted tomatoes from Newmarket & Exeter]
• 2 cloves garlic [Newmarket]
• 2 sweet Italian sausages (*see above for veggie option) [Newmarket]
• 1/2 cup sharp goat cheese ("cheddar"), crumbled [Portsmouth]
• olive oil to sautee filling

Here's What I Did:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare peppers by cutting in a "T" pattern to remove seeds.
3. Prepare filling by sauteeing onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent and browning, add crumbled sausage and continue to cook until browned, and finally add chopped tomatoes and kale and cook another minute.
4. Stuff peppers with veggie & sausage mix.
5. Add crumbled goat cheese (or sharp cheddar or manchego?) to peppers.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until peppers are browned.

Do you love your farmers market(s) like I do?  Better yet, have you been eating from your backyard garden all season?

What have you created for dinner from your local, seasonal foods? 


Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Eat Local.

Easy Recipe for Healthy, Homemade "Ice Cream" (Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, No Added Sugar!)

I've been getting requests for more recipes, so I thought I'd share this dessert I threw together recently: Cherry-Vanilla Coconut Milk "Ice Cream".  This one came to me last week during my long stretch of no grocery shopping.  I only had a few random veggies left (maybe I'll share my sauteed radishes story another time?) and I had completely run out of fresh fruit.  But I was craving fruit.  Then I remembered I had frozen cherries (I love to keep them on hand for smoothies!).  And then I realized I had some coconut milk (coconut milk, NOT coconut water/juice).  I figured I could make something tasty from cherries and coconut milk.  And I did.  Really tasty! 

Here's the recipe...

Cherry-Vanilla Coconut Milk "Ice Cream"
(Dairy- and Gluten-Free, No Added Sugar = NO Reason Not to Try This!)

Ingredients:
(for 2 servings)

• 1 cup frozen organic cherries
• 1/2 cup (classic / NOT "lite") coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• (optional: add 1/2 banana -- adding banana makes it creamy; without banana, consistency is more like sorbet, but there is still some creaminess from the coconut milk)

Here's What You Do:

• Blend together all ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor
• Pour into glass container/bowl (covered) and return to freezer
• Freeze for ~2 hours
• Enjoy. 
• (If your "ice cream" is kept frozen for an extended time, you may need to thaw it before eating.)

I hope you enjoy this simple, tasty, and very healthy alternative to traditional ice cream. 

Let us know if you like it and share with us your own healthy dessert creations.

Eat Well. 
Live Well. 
Be Well.

Creative Cooking: Making the Most of What You've Got

With all the traveling I've been doing lately, I keep missing farmers' markets (and even grocery store trips), and I've found myself throwing together some interesting meals.  Today I'm sharing with you my Greens-Beans-and-Millet "Burgers", but keep your eyes open for my other interesting, healthy, and totally slapped-together concoctions, including Cherry-Vanilla Coconut "Ice Cream" (coming soon!).

I was driving home late last week, thinking about what I could possibly make for dinner without going shopping, and all I could picture in my fridge was a container of leftover sauteed veggies from the night before.  A couple nights earlier I had hung out with my good friend Sadie who's been on a homemade veggie burger kick of late.  So then it hit me.  I'd use my veggies to make some sort of burger.  It turned out really well.  I ate one that night and froze the rest, and it's been really nice to have homemade veggie burgers these past few days.

(Gluten-Free) Greens-Beans-and-Millet "Burgers" (photos below)

Step 1: The Sauteed Veggies (my leftovers)...

I sauteed the following veggies in olive oil and some Braggs' Liquid Aminos: 3 cloves chopped garlic, 9-10 sliced shitake mushrooms, 1 med. sliced summer squash, and a bunch of swiss chard leaves (and stems -- I like to chop up the stems like celery).

Step 2: Making the Burgers...

• Prepare the following ingredients:
• 1 cup leftover sauteed veggies, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup cooked millet (1/2 cup dry)
• 1 can Eden organic pinto beans, smashed (I used a potato masher) and refried with a dash of olive oil, salt to taste, and the juice from 1/2 lime
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
• Form into burgers/patties.
• Line cookie sheet with parchment paper (optional).
• Bake burgers on cookie sheet for ~30-35 minutes (everything is already cooked.  you just want your burgers to get a little crispy on the outside and hold together.).  Flip burgers after 20 minutes.
• Top with your favorite condiment (I used some hot sauce).  Remember that your burgers will hold the flavor of your sauteed vegetables.
• Enjoy!

So, the next time you find yourself saying, "There's nothing in here that's edible!", take a second look.

Feel like sharing one of your successful (or not-so-successful) desperate dinner creations?

Please inspire us with your story.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Be Creative.

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Healthy Junk Food?

I have been doing a Spring Greens Cleanse since last week, and the food on this cleanse mostly comprises greens and spring veggies (kale, arugula, fennel, watercress, asparagus) and some lighter grains (quinoa and millet). I love all that stuff, so it’s been really fun and I feel great eating all this seasonal food.

But this morning I cheated (sshhhhhhhh!) and enjoyed a bowl of junk food: some leftover quinoa reheated with stewed apples and cranberries, and topped with cinnamon, cloves, and sunflower seeds. I just started laughing out loud because of how guilty I feel that eating this food was cheating. Now don’t get me wrong. My version of cheating is not always this annoying… I LOVE chocolate (here’s one place to get your lovely raw chocolate) and I’ve been known to indulge in a bison burger with bacon and bleu cheese from time to time as well.

Since this morning, I've been thinking about how subjective the concept of “junk food” is, and that it is certainly relative to what our normal diet is at any given time. Even though when I say “junk food” you may instantly think about pizza, chips, and candy bars, I bet we all have a few healthy favorites that feel like junk food. (If not, I'll begin writing some recipe posts soon, so stay tuned for those!)

What’s your healthy “junk food”?  Can this healthy treat of yours become your “go-to junk food”?

I’m not sure that we can (or should) do it all the time, but if every once in a while we can substitute one of those bacon-bleu burgers for a nice home-cooked meal and one of those candy bars for a homemade whole fruit-based dessert, then I think we’re headed in the right direction.

Final thought:  If you’ve just got to have that junk food you’re craving, then what about this… Consider making your junk food at home. Homemade food is always better for us than whatever we might buy at the gas station or fast food restaurant -- at least you know what’s in there! And, if you have to make it yourself, you’re less likely to give in to that junk food craving every time it rears its ugly head. But if you do give in every once in a while and indulge in that pizza or candy bar, then be sure to take your time and enjoy it without guilt -- otherwise, it's just not worth it.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.