Barley in the Risotto Style with Butternut Squash, Shitakes, Leeks and Sage

Don’t you love weekend mornings when you can sleep in until your body naturally wakes up? I think those are the best! Yes, we slept until we woke up and I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Breakfast:

Once we actually got up and started moving we had our usual green smoothies for breakfast which consisted of: kale, frozen bananas, walnuts, ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, a little stevia and water to process.

Food Philosophy:

I have gotten a few questions about why green smoothies and why kale for breakfast. The answer is probably more simple that you realize. My general approach to food is to feed us things that will nourish us and provide the building blocks our bodies need to operate most efficiently. Food is something we need to consume to sustain life but most of the time we don’t think about it any further than I am hungry, I need to eat.

If you eat something like a commercially prepared processed meat analog you dip in a sweet sauce like ketchup or barbecue, a baked potato topped with commercially prepared vegan sour crème and wash it down with wine what is the impact on your health? You have consumed macronutrients in the form of protein, fat, carbohydrates and alcohol but what else have you ingested? You have eaten soy protein isolates to elevate your IGF-1, more omega 6 than omega 3 causing inflammation, too much fat in general which will clog your arteries, alcohol which is a toxin that your body needs to eliminate and high fructose corn syrup in the sauce. Let’s not forget about the fact that the soy was probably conventional which means it was roundup ready technology, and there were dyes, preservatives and other chemicals in there that your body also sees as toxins.

When you think about the impact of that meal does it sound like a good idea for your health? Was this fictitious meal I mentioned vegan? Most likely this meal was vegan depending on the specific brands consumed. But was this meal life affirming and healthy? In my opinion this meal was as unhealthy as the standard American diet. Why am I mentioning this? I want to make it very obvious that a vegan diet can be healthy or it can be unhealthy. However you can eat a good tasting healthy vegan diet that isn’t that much work but it will require a little preparation and cooking.

When I make our food I go in the opposite direction. I select items for our meals that are healthy. The green smoothie is a perfect example. I use the frozen banana to make the raw kale more palatable and reduce the need for added sweetener. The kale is kept raw because it is more nutritious when it is raw or lightly cooked. I use kale instead of spinach because it is more nutritious. Cinnamon and ginger are added for flavor but also for their antioxidants. Walnuts are used for fat and creamy texture because they have the best omega 3 to omega 6 ratio of all nuts. I can feel good knowing this smoothie provides a balance of macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs) but also micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). I strongly believe that food should give your body what it needs to be healthy rather than providing toxins your body needs to remove to prevent damage/disease as well as repair the general damage that is done everyday as a function of life.

As you can see I have definite opinions about what we will or will not eat. I think every meal provides you with an opportunity to nourish or poison your body. Since food is something that you ingest 3 or more times a day don’t you want to make the most healthful choice possible? Sometimes when you are out at a restaurant your options are not all that healthy. When I am in that situation I make the best choice possible in that moment. I suppose this is because I have learned to think of food as life and health giving not just as something to make my hunger go away. I hope that makes some sense since it is the basis of how and why I cook what I do.

Lunch:

On the weekends Dan and I typically discuss what I am going to make for our late lunch with my parents. As usual this is always harder that you would it think it should be. Trying to cook healthy vegan food that two unhealthy omnivores will enjoy that is also healthy enough for us is not the easiest task. Saturday we settled on risotto which I made with barley since that is healthier than using risotto rice. I decided to mimic the flavors from the dish I had on New Year’s Eve at Great Sage. Here is what I did:

Barley in the Risotto Style with Butternut Squash, Shitakes, Leeks and Sage
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 leek
5 cloves garlic
2 cups barley
boiling water necessary to create a creamy texture (about 10 cups)
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast, or to taste (I added it one tablespoon at a time and re-tasted the dish I was going to a buttery background not a cheesy one)
¼ pound fresh mushrooms (I used shitake caps but you could also substitute 1 ounce of dried rehydrated mushrooms)
10 – 12 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¼ cup walnuts, finely chopped – for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with a silpat, parchment paper or easy release aluminum foil. Bake the squash until it is tender. With my oven temperature acting up I don’t want to give you a time on this but it should be done in about 20 minutes.

While the squash is roasting you can cut the leeks and garlic and allow them to stand for 10 minutes and get the water boiling to add to the barley. Once the 10 minutes has elapsed combine the leeks, garlic, barley and two cups of water to a low shallow pan. Allow the barley to cook until most of the water has been absorbed then add another cup of water. I have an 8 ounce ladle which is why I know how much liquid I am adding but you can always just estimate. Continue to add water and stir until the barley is starting to soften. Then add the nutritional yeast, mushrooms, butternut squash and sage and continue to add water, stir and cook until you like the texture. Once you like the texture add freshly ground black pepper to taste.

To serve the risotto top with walnuts and a sprig of small sage leaves for garnish. The sage is optional but it is pretty. For my parents I added a drizzle of unfiltered extra virgin olive oil (maybe a teaspoon) so they wouldn’t think the dish was too clean. Dan and I had ours without oil and loved it.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 249.64
Calories From Fat (11%) - 27.5

Total Fat - 3.11g
Saturated Fat - 0.37g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 18.85mg
Potassium - 417.72mg
Total Carbohydrates - 48.22g
Fiber - 9.49g
Sugar - 2.34g
Protein - 6.77g

Comments:

This must have been good because my parents cleared their plates without complaint which is most unusual from my mother. ;-) Not a single comment about this needing cheese. Will miracles never cease? LOL

We thought this had good flavor though not assertive. The pops of sage were nice. We also liked the crunch of the chopped walnuts on top. Overall this was a good dish very warming and comforting. This is definitely a nice cold weather dish.

I served this with a small side salad of mixed baby greens, mango, orange, and grapes that I dressed with barley miso and apple cider. I topped the salad with a few sliced almonds for crunch.

Movie Night:

After lunch we watched the movie “Radio”. Talk about a tear jerker. If you aren’t in the mood to cry I don’t suggest this one. The movie was well made; Cuba Gooding Jr. did a superb job playing Radio. The end of the movie is uplifting but getting there was tough. I think what made it worse for me was that it was true story. Also I wasn’t exactly in the mood for a downer given everything else going on. However I would say this movie was a 4 or 5 on a 5 scale. The actors were great and the story well told.

We choose a comedy for our next movie. This time we watched “The Ugly Truth”. It was very much in the style of Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in my opinion. I am not going to say it was deep, but it was cute. It was exactly what I needed after crying through “Radio”. If you need a chuckle this was worth watching. I am not sure how I managed before we had Netflix. It really is wonderful to be able to watch whatever you want anytime.

Dinner:

For dinner we had a quick bowl of leftovers from the refrigerator which consisted of quinoa, black beans, Indian tomato sauce, parsley and chopped cashews. This is exactly why I like to make my intentional leftovers. Sometimes we are hungry and I don’t exactly feel like cooking. On those occasions I reach for the intentional leftovers. It is nice to know that I can pull together something that is nutritious in less time that ordering Chinese delivery.

Dessert:

Needless to say Dan needed dessert after the movie. By now I know all of you know what he had, strawberry banana soft serve. Can you tell how much he likes it? LOL

Dietary Guidelines We Follow (part 3):

The more I write about things I keep in mind when we eat the more I realize there is to say. When I started this section I thought I could cover it one post. Clearly I was wrong. Other things I keep in mind when preparing our food is as follows:

• No added salt unless I am making Chinese food or need a little miso. While I know salt is bad and even the IOM has reduced the salt recommendation for everyone to 1,500mg per day when I am making Chinese I need a little soy sauce. Reducing our sodium intake was harder than giving up oil for me. ;-) However I am happy to say we are well below 1,500mg if sodium per average now. Also we have both found that the longer we are off added sodium the more our taste buds have adapted to the flavor or food without salt which means we need less soy sauce or miso now than we did in the past.

• We stopped drinking alcohol except special occasions. Anyone that knows us realizes how hard this was. Both Dan and I loved good Italian red wine with Brunello being our favorite. We have a wine a cellar and it was always stocked with the a few case of overflow wine in the basement. Giving up wine was very difficult but once I realized that alcohol is a toxin that you body needs to process and remove it is hard to drink it no matter how much you love the taste. I still cook with wine every now and then but try to use it at the beginning of cooking in a mostly dry pan so that the liquid evaporates and all I am left with in the flavor. Honestly I still miss my Brunello which is why we said yes on Christmas Eve when Allan suggested we have some while we waited for our table.

• When I am added red bell peppers to dishes I try to add them at the end to preserve the vitamin C since that is heat sensitive.

• During the year when the farmers’ market is open we always go and belong to a local organic CSA. I believe that local food is more nutritious because it was more recently harvested. Since fresh produce loses nutrition as a function of time the most recently picked the food the better it has to be in terms of vitamins and minerals. This is the same reason I try to eat seasonally.

• I buy organic produce whenever I can for a number of reasons. One of the important ones is that when possible we eat food skin and all. For many foods the skin and the flesh just below the skin is the most nutritious. When food is organic I feel comfortable eating the skin but with conventional produce I am worried about the pesticide residue that won’t wash off.

I am going to continue this section until I run out of things to write. I have no idea how long that will be but expect at least one more post on this and probably more.

A Little Bit More About Me:

Since I don’t want you to think that I am saint, because I am not, in this post I wanted to share some of the less flattering truths about myself. I am fiercely loyal and when someone is important to me I will fight for them no matter what. What this means is that when anyone treats someone I love poorly I don’t forget it. I have a very long memory and I am not particularly forgiving. This is something that I should work on moderating but I have been this way a long time. I suspect changing this aspect of me will take a lot of hard work.

I also dislike bullies and people in authority who throw their weight around. In my day I have had some seriously awful bosses, some worse than others. Needless to say given my personality I have a tendency to say what I think when these people have behaved poorly and have gotten myself into trouble. I realized long ago that I would never be the CFO of a major corporation because I wasn’t willing to lie, cheat and/or steal to get there.

I also have a problem with people that lie. When people lie I don’t forget it. Are you seeing the pattern? I am a very loving and giving person but if I find out you aren’t a nice person I don’t need to hear anything else. I will be polite if I see you but I won’t be nice. I refuse to be fake or phony. I know lots of people will say something nice because they think they should even if it is disingenuous but I won’t do that. I am that person you never want to ask “does this make my butt look big” unless you want the truth.

I think it is important to know who you are and your pluses and minuses. If you don’t know what your negatives are how are you ever going to change them. Awareness is the first step in the process of change.

I wanted to add something unflattering about myself because I didn’t want anyone to be under the impression that I am perfect since that is very far from the truth. I am human like everyone else and I make mistakes, more than I care to admit actually. Hopefully now I make fewer mistakes than I did in the past. It would be nice to be growing better as I also grow older. ;-)

Dan is wondering why I have decided to add a “character development” section to the blog as he is calling it. I thought it would help you to understand me more so that you could put my words into perspective.  I suppose I feel like it is very easy to say only positive things about yourself but that isn’t who any of us really are.  ;-)  For better or worse I wanted to share a bit more about me to give you a more complete picture.

Happy thought:

I have many things to be thankful for today and those are:

• Our morning run to Wegman’s and Whole Foods was nice. The roads were fairly empty and the stores weren’t mobbed. Also we were able to get everything we needed and be home by 9:30 for a green smoothie.

• Today we spent relaxing and listening to jazz on Pandora. When Dan bought a new fancy TV for the family room I thought it was unnecessary but I love using it to stream Pandora. Now my TV is almost always tuned in to one of the jazz stations. I am a big fan on instrumental jazz and find it to be very relaxing. Yesterday and today we have been listening to the Dave Koz station.

• Typically I drink plain green or white tea but the last couple of weeks I have been seriously enjoying the flavored teas that Dan usually drinks at work. Also the Youthberry tea from Teavana that “the kids” (Aimee and Michael) gave us for Christmas is fantastic. I am really growing to love flavored tea.

• My father liked the Brussels sprout dish I made on Sunday including the quinoa. Score another win for healthy food. ;-) I get very excited when I can make something that my parents enjoy that is also good for them.

• I am also thankful that my knee is feeling good today. I think I have decided to give the gym another go tomorrow morning. With a little luck I will behave myself and have an appropriate knee friendly work out tomorrow morning. Wish me luck moderation is not one of my strengths. ;-)

Signing:

If am going to get up tomorrow morning at 5am I need to turn in very soon. I hope you had a great weekend and feel energized to start another work week. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Red Wine Barley Risotto and No Sugar Apple Butter

After breakfast Dan decided to head to his home office on the third floor and try to catch up on some paperwork. Before he headed upstairs we talked more about lunch. I liked his idea to use barley but I really wasn’t in the mood for barley soup. I suggested barley in the risotto style and he thought that sounded good. I used to make a red wine risotto so I decided to make that with barley for lunch. Since we also have fresh criminis and shitakes I thought they would be good on top of the barley. With the cooler temperatures I also though red cabbage would be good plus it gets another blue/purple veggies serving into us. Here is what I made today:

Red Wine Barley in the Risotto Style Topped with Mushrooms and Red Cabbage
Serves 4

Barley Ingredients:

½ red onion, finely minced
½ cup water to sauté the onion
1 ½ cups hulled barley
750ml bottle good red wine (I used an Amarone a northern Italian raisinated wine)
water necessary to fully cook barley (will be added slowly see instructions)
½ tablespoons fresh minced rosemary
black pepper to taste

Topping Ingredients:

½ red onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup of water to sauté onions
½ pound crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
½ pound fresh shitake caps, thinly sliced (save stems in the freezer for mushroom stock)
2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
½ tablespoon fresh minced rosemary
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup walnuts + ½ cup water processed in a blender until completely smooth
½ tablespoon arrowroot dissolved in ½ tablespoon of water

Garnish ingredients:

1 tablespoons chives, finely minced
2 tablespoons walnuts, roughly chopped

Directions:

Sauté the onion in water until it is starting to get tender, about 3 minutes, add the barley and ¼ of the bottle of red wine. Stir to coat all the barley with the wine and cook over medium heat until most of the wine has been absorbed. Add the rosemary and more wine and continue to cook. You will need to add all the wine plus more water to cook the barley until it is tender. This will take about 45 minutes. Before serving taste for seasoning and adjust to your taste.

For the topping water sauté the onions for 3 minutes then add the mushrooms, cabbage, rosemary and pureed walnuts. When the cabbage is lightly wilted add the arrowroot slurry. Taste for seasonings and adjust to your taste.

To serve top the barley with the mushroom topping and finish with chopped walnuts and chives. I considered topping this dish with a lightly dressed herb salad but changed to chives since fresh herbs are something that my mother tends to pick out of food. Before you ask I have no idea why she does that. Just another thing I need to be mindful of when cooking for her.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 618.83 **
Calories From Fat (18%) - 111.4

Total Fat - 13.3g
Saturated Fat - 1.38g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 40.73mg
Potassium - 1178.97mg
Total Carbohydrates - 81.27g **
Fiber - 18.01g
Sugar - 4.38g
Protein - 14.61g

** The total calories in this dish was overstated by the alcohol which was burned off during cooking. Since there is controversy on how much remains I left all the alcohol in the numbers above knowing it was too high.

Comments:

Dan and I both really enjoyed this. The dish has a complex flavor that is dependent on the wine. This dish is very easy to make but you must use a wine you would drink by the glass. Cooking concentrates the flavor of the wine so only use one you love. We are big fans of red Italian wine which is why I used Amarone. Always taste the wine before you cook with it. If the wine has faults by the glass those will be more pronounced once you cook it and concentrate the flavor. From experience I can tell you that using bad wine will ruin a dish.

To accompany the risotto we also had a quick salad of romaine, thinly shaved carrot, cucumber and radish and diced tomato. I dressed this with the Dijon, red wine vinegar and stevia I mentioned yesterday. Sorry, I still didn’t measure anything for the dressing again today.

Dinner:

Dinner tonight was a big salad very similar to the one we had with lunch, only twice the size. Dan also had a bowl of leftover mushroom dahl from last night since he needed the calories. Eating more like me yesterday he dropped two pounds when he got on the scale this morning. *shakes head* Wouldn’t it be nice to lose weight as quickly as men seem to be able to, not that I will ever know. ;-)

About 45 minutes after the salad and dahl Dan wanted to have a big bowl of strawberry banana soft serve. As you can tell he loves that stuff. I had about ¼ cup of it which I did not photograph.

Breakfast:

Since it is a weekday we are back to the grind first thing this morning. It is tough to get moving when it is dark and raining when you wake up. Like usual I was making fresh veggie and fruit juice for Dan to take to work with his lunch.

Due to the cold rainy weather this morning we decided a hot bowl of oatmeal was particularly appealing. The oatmeal this morning was topped with my homemade no sugar apple butter. This is a great use for the apple butter I think.

Making apple butter is more of a method than a recipe. I took 8 apples which I cored (but did not peel) and cut into chunks. I put the chunks in the Vitamix with the juice of one lemon (which is optional you could use water or white wine). Process everything until it is completely smooth. Pour the mixture into a low flat pan and cook over low heat, stirring often to make certain it doesn’t burn. Add any seasonings you like to taste. I used cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, and vanilla. Mine cooked for about 45 minutes in an enameled cast iron pan until it was thick and brown. In the past I would have added sugar or agave but we are so accustomed to food with sweetener now that the concentrated fruit was sweet enough.

Signing out for now:

I need to get moving this morning and stop lounging around. Monday is normally busy at my house catching up from all my relaxing on the weekend. However the cool weather and rain just makes me want to curl up on the sofa with a fuzzy throw and a book. Sort of like Nicco just add a book. He is on top of a micro fleece throw I picked up last week at Costco. They are very soft and machine washable if anyone is looking for a fuzzy throw, they are feline approved as you can tell.

Talk to you all again soon.

Spanish Influenced Meal with Red Peppers and Mushrooms

Last night I had a hard time sleeping, for some unknown reason I was still awake at 1:49am. *ugh* When the alarm went off at 6am for the farmers’ market it was tough to drag myself out of bed. Of course I went but I wasn’t in the most chipper mood. ;-) As usual we did a quick lap around the market to see what the farmers had and to get our blood pumping. It seemed to help a little.

When we got to one of our favorite organic farmers he was just setting up. We gave him a hand unloading the truck and had everything out and on the tables in a few minutes. Doesn’t it always change your mood when you help another person? No matter how tired I am when I leave the house I always know I will feel better once we get to the market.

Once we got back from the market I realized I had forgotten a few things (including my list, duh). Dan and I walked over to the grocery store for another 5 pounds of organic carrots and a bag of apples (both for juice of course).

As tired as I was this morning the idea of making food was not the slightest bit appealing, though we needed to eat and my parents were expecting me to cook a late mid-day meal which has become traditional. I had barley mushroom risotto in mind but there was no way I felt like that much stirring. That is where the idea of soup came from; it was definitely much easier and just as tasty.

Since I was in the mood for Spanish food I decided to flavor the soup as if it were a tapas dish I order often. Knowing that I was going for a Spanish influence on the soup I decided to make my healthy version of another dish I order at our local tapas restaurant for our appetizer. It is very simple and takes only a few minutes to prepare if you are using jarred peppers. Here is what I made:

Slightly Sweet and Sour Roasted Peppers with Almonds and Capers
Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 peppers, roasted and skin removed, cut into strips
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon agave
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon sliced almonds
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
dulse granules, to taste (or flaked sea salt)
1/2 tablespoon capers, drained – optional but recommended

Directions:

Drain the roasted red peppers thoroughly and place in the container with a tight seal.  Or roast your own, directions here.


Water sauté the garlic for a few minutes until the water has evaporated. Combine the garlic, sherry vinegar and agave and pour over the peppers and refrigerate until needed.  Toss the peppers periodically to make sure they all absorb the flavor of the marinade.

To serve, bring the peppers to room temperature (to maximize the flavor). Top the peppers with almonds, capers, parsley and freshly cracked pepper. Add dulse or salt if desired. With the capers I didn’t think it needed any additional saltiness.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 44.79
Calories From Fat (25%) - 10.98

Total Fat - 1.34g
Saturated Fat - 0.11g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 36.07mg
Potassium - 204.69mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.13g
Fiber - 2.78g
Sugar - 0.28g
Protein - 1.47g

Comments:

The appetizer was definitely the star of the meal. Everyone remarked that it was so good and there was not a drop of oil. *pats self on back, LOL* Dan, who does not like peppers but eats them anyway, said “this was the best pepper dish I have made in a long time” and that he would be happy to eat this again. Seriously for Dan to mention this means it was home run. I really hope you try this. It is lightly sweet from the agave, a little tart from the sherry vinegar. There are salty pops from the capers, freshness from the parsley and crunch from the almonds. Can you tell I liked it? ;-) LOL

Mushroom and Barley Soup with Spanish Flavors

The poor soup almost didn’t stand a chance with the popularity of the appetizer. But I think it held its own. ;-) If you like mushrooms, lemon and smoked paprika you will enjoy this. The cashew crème fraiche added a little richness to the otherwise fat free soup. Here is what I did:

Spanish Flavored Wild Mushroom and Barley Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cups dried wild mushrooms
4 cups water
2 carrots
3 stalks celery
½ red onion
6 cloves garlic, peeled
4 cups water
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ teaspoon cumin seed, ground
1 cup barley, uncooked
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons freshly parsley, finely minced
1 lemon zested and juiced
4 tablespoons cashew crème fraiche
smoked paprika to top cashew crème

Directions:

Combine the dried mushrooms and 4 cups of water in a microwave safe container. Heat until hot and allow the mushrooms to soak for 30 minutes. When the mushrooms are tender cut them into pieces that will fit on a spoon and strain the mushroom soaking liquid to add to the soup.

While the mushrooms are soaking cut the carrot and onion into rough chunks and put in your food processor. Chop the celery finely and add it to the food processor as well. The processor blade alone doesn’t do a great job on the “strings” in the celery. Toss in the garlic and process until everything is finely ground. You want the smallest pieces possible as you were making a Bolognese sauce. The mixture will almost be the consistency of mush.

Place this mixture in a larger heavy pot and add the other 4 cups of water. Add the mushrooms, soaking liquid and the remaining ingredients except (parsley, cashew crème and smoked paprika for garnish). Simmer (with the lid slightly ajar) until the barley is tender. This will take about an hour depending on the power of your burner. Be sure to simmer so the liquid doesn’t evaporate and stir every 10 to 15 minutes so you know it is sticking. Add more water if necessary.

To serve, remove the bay leaf, top the soup with a dollop of cashew crème fraiche and a pinch of smoked paprika

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 321.98
Calories From Fat (8%) - 27.14

Total Fat - 3.28g
Saturated Fat - 0.61g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 126.45mg
Potassium - 798.67mg
Total Carbohydrates - 70.25g
Fiber - 14.66g
Sugar - 4.26g
Protein - 9.8g

Comments:

This is definitely not your traditional mushroom barley soup but we really enjoyed it. I like the lemon aspect as well as the smoked paprika. Of course I love any opportunity to get the antiproliferative properties of mushrooms into us. I will definitely make this again. All four bowls were empty at the end of the meal so I think everyone liked it.

Last night:

Dan and I decided to kick back and relax after the late mid-day meal with my parents yesterday. While I cleaned up the kitchen Dan watched a little sci fi he had DVR’d. Then we decided to watch a movie. While I don’t always mention movies this one was much better than we both expected so I wanted to share. We finally got around to watching “It’s Complicated”. Neither of us are huge Alec Baldwin fans but we both like Meryl Streep so we expected her to do a good job. I have to admit Alec Baldwin was much better than we expected. Parts of the movie had us both laughing out loud it was so funny. If you haven’t seen it I would recommend it if you need a “funny movie night”.

We ended up skipping dinner and having popcorn with the movie. Dan had his usual strawberry banana soft serve after the movie. I swear he could eat that stuff every night.

This morning:

After the market today and our unexpected trip to the grocery store for the things I forget we were a little hungry. I wonder why since we skipped dinner? For breakfast this morning we split a cantaloupe. I really love fresh local melons. They are so flavorful and juicy when they are in season.

Then we had a quick bowl of oatmeal topped with an equal amount of frozen wild blueberries, and a spirnkle of cinnamon and ginger and a tablespoon of ground flaxseeds for omega 3's.

Dinner tonight:

At the moment dinner is completely up in the air. We may have something simple like a big salad with lentil and walnut pate. But I actually have no idea. Also being so full from lunch doesn’t give me any desire to think about dinner at the moment.

Unrelated Note:

I think Dan wants to watch another movie this evening. If we choose something worth watching I will let you know about it later tonight or tomorrow.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Talk to you again soon.

Spanish Flavored Barley Risotto with Mushroom

Dan and I tend to plan dinner together on the weekends. What this really means is that I am tired of planning what to have for dinner and am looking for suggestions. Plus Dan knows that what I make on Sunday will turn up in his lunch for a few days so he has a vested interest. In the morning after we have breakfast we start discussing the options for dinner. It usually starts with the fresh produce we have on hand and then we move on from there. We always make a big green salad, this is a given. Today’s salad was a simple one of baby spinach dressed with lemon juice, lemon zest, oregano, brined artichokes and red bell peppers. The salad was nothing too difficult so it escaped the camera.

Risotto is something that everyone loves so we opted for a healthy version made with barley. We had criminis in the refrigerator that I wanted to use so that is where this began. I decided to take it in a Spanish direction on a whim, but this turned out quite tasty. Even my parents asked for leftovers. So I would say this is omni approved and I added no oil to this dish. Here is what I did.

Spanish Flavored Barley Risotto with Mushroom
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and finely minced
3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and finely minced
¼ cup water to sauté aromatics (onion and garlic)
1 pound barley (dry)
Water necessary to soften barley (approx 8 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon thyme, dried
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
14 ounces diced tomatoes
2 cups Crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely minced

Directions:

Water sauté the onion and garlic until soft and the water has been evaporated. Add the barley and cook it, stirring very often, until the barley begins to toast lightly (you will smell this before you see it, takes a minute or two at most). Begin by adding enough water to cover the barley by a ¼ inch. Stir it for a minute and reduce the heat and cook for five minutes during which time much of the water will be absorbed. Add more water to cover the barley by a ¼ inch, stir and cook for five minutes. Continue this for about 25 minutes. Then add the salt, thyme smoked paprika, tomatoes and mushrooms and check the barley for tenderness. You will probably need to cook the barley a total of 45 minutes but it doesn’t hurt to check it early. When the barley is almost finish reduce the heat to as low as it will go and cover the pan. It will absorb most of the liquid. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and parsley just before serving. Taste for seasoning before serving so you can add salt and pepper as necessary.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 225.28
Calories From Fat (3%) - 7.21

Total Fat - 0.86g
Saturated Fat - 0.18g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 252.93mg
Potassium - 414.5mg
Total Carbohydrates - 49.69g
Fiber - 10.17g
Sugar - 2.98g
Protein - 6.89g

Comments:

I have always been a huge fan of risotto. In the past I made my risotto from carnaroli rice. Arborio was always too soft for my taste. I guess you could say I was particular about my risotto. Changing over to barley was a big deal at our house (for me). I felt as though I was betraying some sacred Italian trust. But just as I gave up olive oil I have also given up white rice, even when it is carnaroli. This texture of barley made in the risotto style is similar to that made from rice. It isn’t the same, but it is close enough for us. If you like smoked paprika and lemon you will enjoy this dish. Those are the first two things I can taste in this dish. It is very filling and makes a nice entrée course that doesn’t require fat for flavor.

Unrelated note:

The day has gotten away from me and I still need to exercise. So I need to get that done soon so it doesn’t keep me up tonight. Tomorrow is another busy day with appointments most of the afternoon. After that I am going to run a couple of errands. The posts tomorrow may be sparse, or late.

I hope you all had a great weekend and I will chat with you again soon.

Beet Barley Risotto with Wilted Beet Greens

Sorry for my absence this week. We have had a lot going on this week, much more than normal. I had forgotten that part of our eye exams yesterday would be the drops that dilate your eyes. I looked stoned for half a day after the exam. With my eyes dilated I wasn’t able to read easily so I didn’t even try to do anything on the computer. After our eye appointments my hubby decided to take the day off with me, which was really nice. He has gone back to work today so my day today will return to normal.

On Wednesday of this week I spent the day with my friend Sue and we were cooking for hours. This was the day we decided to veganize the first few recipes from the cookbook. It was a good thing we decided to make the dishes together as there was a lot of cooking and cleaning that was required to make three dishes at once. Had I been doing this by myself I would have had to start making dinner right after breakfast.

As part of the “cookbook project” we needed one beet to make beet chips. They were only sold in a bunch of 6 beets so I decided we would make a beet barley risotto for our lunch before we started making dinner. This is what we had on Wednesday for lunch.

Beet Barley Risotto with Wilted Beet Greens
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 small yellow onion (about 1 cup), peeled and chopped
¼ cup water to sauté
pinch of salt
2 cups barley
½ cup dry white wine
water (or vegetable stock) sufficient to cook barley
2 cups beets (5 medium beets, finely diced into about ¼ inch pieces)
1 ½ teaspoons dill weed
salt and pepper, as necessary
beet greens and stems from the 5 beets, finely chopped

Directions:

Water sauté onion with the pinch of salt until the onion is soft. Add barley and white wine and mix. Add diced beets, dill, 2 cups of water, and simmer, stirring occasionally. Continue to add water and stir until the barley is tender (about 40 minutes). Taste the risotto and adjust the seasonings (salt, pepper and dill) as necessary. When the barley is tender turn off the heat and stir in the beet greens and serve immediately. If desired you can drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil when serving.

Dan and I had leftover beet risotto for lunch yesterday. It reheated well in the microwave.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 256.39
Calories From Fat (3%) - 7.08

Total Fat - 0.85g
Saturated Fat - 0.18g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 151.29mg
Potassium - 511.68mg
Total Carbohydrates - 54.94g
Fiber - 12.04g
Sugar - 1.31g
Protein - 7.63g

Comments:

If you like beets you will love this risotto. It is the most beautiful magenta color. The barley is tender and the beet greens have a little firmness.

Each serving of this recipe is packed with nutrition containing approximately 2,400IU of vitamin A, 80mg of calcium, 3mg of iron, 25mcg of folate, 150mcg of vitamin K, 170mg of phosphorus, 85mg of magnesium, and 25mcg of selenium. Not too bad for something we decided to make on the fly after having more beets than we needed for beet chips.

Unrelated Note:

I haven’t had time to exercise since Tuesday so I really need to do that this morning. I also need to catch up on responding to comments and reading blogs. I hope to have time to post at least one more recipe today (hopefully more). Talk to you all again soon.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Bars

I like to make reasonably healthy little nibbles to have in the lunch bag. Since everyone loves peanut butter and chocolate that was my starting point for this recipe. Of course, I needed to sweeten the mixture with agave (I try to minimize the sugar my sweetie eats). I added puffed brown rice and rolled barley because that is what I had on hand. Overall these little bars taste great and make a nice sweet little treat with your afternoon cup of coffee.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Bars
Makes 16 bars

Ingredients:

½ cup of organic peanut butter
½ cup of raw agave
pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon good vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups of puffed brown rice
1 ½ cups of rolled barley (could substitute rolled oats)
¼ cup of non-dairy chocolate chips

Directions:

Heat peanut butter and agave until it boils. Turn off the heat. Add the salt and vanilla and whisk to thoroughly combine. Stir in puffed brown rice and rolled oats and combine. Add ¼ cup of chocolate chips and stir them evenly thorough.

Grease a 9 by 9 pan thoroughly with oil. Pack mixture into the pan and allow to cool. Cut into 16 squares. I wrap my bars in plastic film and store in the refrigerator in a freezer ziploc to keep them from picking up any odors.

Comments:

These are sweet, but not so sweet they hurt my teeth or make we wish I hadn’t eaten one. I was trying to minimize the amount of sweetener in this recipe intentionally, but I think I need to increase it a little next time. They taste good, but don’t hold together exactly the way I would like them to. Next time I am going to add a tablespoon of both agave and peanut butter and see if that works to stiffen the cookie a little. I may also make them into balls instead of bars. That may help them to stick together. These bars are good just like they are though ..... I tend to be a little picky.

Sun Dried Tomato Barley Risotto

I adore the traditional versions of risotto made with Italian superfino rice. In fact I am a bit of risotto snob. I can tell the difference in texture between a risotto made with the usual Arborio compared to my favorite Carnaroli. I love the texture of Carnaroli grains for their ability to remain distinct yet soft, compared to Arborio whose grains seems to lose their individual character.

So, why am I including a recipe for a barley risotto? While I love traditional risotto it is made with white rice. We all know that white rice is mostly devoid of nutrition. I do still make rice risotto, but more often now I make barley in the risotto style.

Barley is another one of those foods that is so healthy. One cup of barley contains over 50% of the recommended daily value of selenium. Barley is also very high in soluble fiber and is linked to a reduction in cholesterol. The insoluble fiber in barley helps feed the friendly bacteria in your intestinal tract. Barley also contains niacin that helps to protect us against cardiovascular disease. Overall there are many healthy and tasty reasons to eat barley. I wish I could make the same case for my beloved Carnaroli rice.

Sun Dried Tomato Barley Risotto
Serves 6 generously as a main dish

Ingredients:

1/3 of a cup of sun dried tomatoes, finely sliced
10 cups of vegetable stock or water
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, finely diced (yellow or white is fine, I used red for color)
3 garlic cloves, minced (allow to stand 10 minutes after mincing to allow allicin to develop)
1/2 cup of dry white wine (like pinot grigio)
2 cups of pearled barley
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, finely minced (could substitute thyme or oregano)

Optional Ingredients:
¼ cup of gremolata (freshly grated lemon zest from one lemon, one minced garlic clove and small handful of minced parsley)
½ cup of almond feta, for garnish

Directions:

Place dried sun dried tomatoes in vegetable stock (or water) and microwave for a few minutes. Allow to stand so that tomatoes rehydrate. Put the tomato stock and rosemary in a pan and heat to a simmer.

In a very large pan sauté the onion in the olive oil until lightly brown. Add the barley to the onion and toast for a few minutes to bring out a slightly nutty flavor in the barley. Add the wine to the barley pan and cook, while stirring, until the wine has been absorbed. Add the tomato stock a couple of ladles at a time to the barley pan. With each addition of the stock taste for the appropriate level of saltiness and add as necessary. This helps the dish to be evenly salted.

Lower the heat so the pan is slowly simmering and stir the barley a few times. Set the timer for 5 minutes and walk away (unless you love to stir). Every 5 minutes repeat, by adding stock, stirring, checking the salt level and setting the timer for 5 minutes. Continue this process until the barley reaches your desired consistency.

Barley risotto takes at least 45 minutes to absorb enough liquid to become tender which is why I lower the heat and walk away every 5 minutes. When the barley risotto has almost reached your desire texture you can either stay and continue to stir until it is done or put a lid on the pan turn off the heat and come back in 10 minutes.

Directions for optional ingredients:

If you like you can add the almond feta when you serve the risotto, but it isn’t necessary. It will have plenty of flavor without the cheese.

If using gremolata add it to the top of the risotto when plating. You can always just add a little finely minced Italian parsley.

Comments:

This barley risotto has a big flavor from the sun dried tomatoes and fresh rosemary. If you like roasted garlic that would also be nice added to the stock. The green from the parsley and the white from the almond feta make a nice color contrast to the dish. Sometimes I add a little finely sliced sun dried tomatoes that have not been cooked, for textural variety.

This recipe makes great leftovers. We frequently pack this for lunch. It makes a nice vegetarian dinner or lunch with a salad on the side.

When choosing a pan to prepare the risotto make certain it is large. The barley will swell to at least 4 times its original size.

If you run out of stock before the risotto has reached your desired degree of tenderness add additional water to the pot.

Why do you heat the tomato flavored stock? Adding heated stock to the barley risotto ensures the barley continues to cook as quickly as possible