Happy Mother’s Day

What a great day to be alive! The skies were blue, there was a little nip in the air and I felt completely rested this morning. This was one of those days where I actually enjoyed the morning and being a night owl those don’t happen too often. ;-)

We started our morning with a big mug of tea. Today we are having my latest favorite combination of: white tea, tulsi tea and rose buds. The new Bodum glasses that I picked up at Marshall’s happen to have the same size top as the Bodum tea cups with the tea insert which makes it easier to start our day with a double green tea.

This morning Dan asked for a green smoothie. It makes me smile that Dan likes green smoothies enough that he requests them for breakfast.

My breakfast today was fresh veg and fruit juice. When I make juice I never use a “recipe” but rather just start cutting up things that I have on hand and send it through the juicer. After you have made juice for a while you get a feel from what works. Additionally you can do the same thing I do and taste the juice as you go along and add things to make the taste suit you. Typically I use both green and sweet things in the juice. I also like to add lemon and/or fresh ginger to the juice when I have them on hand. Today’s juice contained: 4 kale leaves, 2 stalks celery, 1 large beet, 1 small apple, and 2 carrots. I pour this into a frozen glass, stir in chia seeds and add ice. I shared this juice with Dan to increase his natural vitamin and mineral content at breakfast. After you start making fresh juice I think you will find that your body starts to crave it as mine does.

Dan bought us both 7” tablets last week. He liked the small size since they fit easily in a jacket pocket (and my purse). I have been playing around with mine too and so far I like it. After I have had more time using it I will let you know what I think. One thing I know that I like so far is how portable it is. I love that is small enough to fit easily in any of my purses and I have some small bags. ;-)

The later afternoon meal with my parents was very simple. For appetizers we had two simple dishes. The first was roasted red peppers and onions dressed with sherry vinegar, smoked paprika, parsley and almonds. The second dish was marinated mushrooms and peppers finished with parsley.

The main dish was a fruited quinoa topped with lightly wilted Brussels sprouts, garlic, cumin, apple, dried apricot, golden raisins and grapes that I finished with lemon zest, lemon juice and sliced almonds.

After the meal we rushed to get to MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) for the showing of “Cafeteria Man”. It was the story of chef that took over the food program for the Baltimore City school system and his fight to make the cafeteria food both local and fresh. Talk about a thought provoking and touching story, wow! If the documentary is shown near you and you have an interest in school nutrition this is good film.

We then went home so that I could whip up a batch of nut cheese to take with me to the restaurant. I know that sounds odd but let me explain. David (at the restaurant) is also vegan and hadn’t had nut cheese so I wanted to take him some to try. Corey isn’t a vegan but he is trying to give up dairy so I had to take him some. Will does a wonderful job coming up with vegan dishes for us and loves to try new things which meant I wanted him to taste it too. Me taking nut cheese to the restaurant makes more sense now right? ;-) This batch was raw cashew and macadamia that I flavored with fresh garlic, sherry vinegar and nutritional yeast. I served it a spread on top of the tomato and raisin pesto/chutney and finished it with black pepper and fresh minced parsley. (FYI Will liked the nut cheese as did Jonathon. Corey has had it before so I know he likes it. David took his home so we will have to see what he thinks.)

We got to the restaurant late because it was Mother’s Day and they were packed from brunch on. When we arrived at 8pm things were definitely starting to slow down and I am sure everyone was happy to have a break. Even though we hadn’t given him any notice Will quickly made a three course menu for us when he heard we were there. Seriously, we didn’t expect that but it was extremely nice of him to do that with zero notice. Are you starting to see how we could get pulled into going out to eat every night? These guys make it way too easy for me to take the night off from cooking. Darn them, LOL! ;-)

Our first course was a Greek orzo dish with zucchini, tomato, garlic, lemon, olives and oregano. Fortunately for me Dan doesn’t love olives, which means I got most of them. I do love olives even though I know that aren’t the best for me with all the salt they contain. Of well, I can’t be perfect all the time because that just wouldn’t be any fun. Okay so maybe I should say I am not going to be perfect all the time.

The second course was AMAZING! Can you tell I liked it? This dish was sriracha and soy marinated tofu topped with radish, green apple, celery and carrot salad. Seriously this recipe hit all my buttons, spicy, salty, crunchy, soft…..definitely good stuff.

The final course was a whole wheat pizza topped with mashed sweet potato, golden raisins, curry powder, and almonds topped with lemon dressed arugula. I have never used mashed sweet potato as a pizza base before and after tasting this I have no idea why that never occurred to me before. This is why it is so great to go out to eat. Every time I eat out I get more great recipe ideas.

I also had to post this picture of Stephanie being silly. In case the picture doesn’t say it all Steph is quite a lot of fun. LOL

Happy Thoughts:

• I love hearing the Westminster chimes in the morning. We live near an old clock tower with chimes and when we have the windows open you can hear them every 15 minutes. This is another one of those things that I take for granted that I shouldn’t. The chimes remind me of my childhood and my grandmother which is a great thing to think about on Mother’s day.

• It was great to start the morning with the windows open. I love having fresh air in the house. I also love that on a very high pollen day like today (I only know this from the weather channel) I have no sign of my seasonal allergies. While I didn’t change my diet because of allergies it was a very welcome side effect. ;-)

• Every time Dan asks me to make something nutritious I smile. He enjoys having green smoothies for breakfast and that makes me very happy. I get a lot of email from you that ask how I get Dan to eat as healthy as I do which reminds me how much progress I have made with his diet. The only thing that I do is that I share all the new health information as I learn it with Dan. I think that knowledge is power and when you understand the true impact of the choices you make on your health it results in better decisions.

• The fur children bought me a present for Mother’s Day. Wasn’t that incredibly sweet of them and Dan? When he gave me the earrings he said they were from “the kittens” (that is what we call the fur kids since they still act like kittens) since I am their mom. Awwww, too cute. ;-)

• Lunch today turned out very well. My father commented how good the roasted red pepper salad was. Will miracles never cease? ;-) I enjoyed the Brussels sprouts dish which was my variation of something that we had at Jaleo (one of Jose’s restaurants in DC). Who could possible ever get bored eating vegan when there are so many possible combinations of vegetables, fruit and seasonings?

• I really enjoyed the movie today and highly recommend it. As much as I study nutrition and health there is always an angle to explore that had not occurred to me. I walked out the movie saying that I need to get involved in childhood nutrition somehow. Only time will tell what that means for me.

• When we walked in the door at the restaurant Kristin said happy Mother’s Day to me and wanted to know how my day was. Of course I said thank you and told her that the kitchen bought me earrings. It is little moments like this that remind me that there are many nice people in the world though the bad ones seem to make much more noise.

• Dinner out was lovely as always. Yes, I will admit that we have been out to eat 4 days in a row and that is probably excessive. I will need to make up for slacking on my kitchen responsibilities this coming week. LOL, I wonder if I can do it.

Signing out:

It was another wild week for me. I didn’t really expect last week to be busy but somehow it was. How does this keep happening? This coming week is supposed to be hectic. Let’s hope I can pull it together enough to make a few meals in my own kitchen. If I can’t do it I am sure the gang will be happy to make something for us. Can I be much more spoiled? Okay, don’t answer that. LOL

I hope your weekend was a good as ours. I will chat with you again tomorrow.

Mashed Millet and Cauliflower

This is a recipe that I haven’t made in more years than I can remember. It was something that I used to make often a long time ago. When I had it again today I couldn’t remember why I stopped making this. Clearly that was a mistake. The final dish is reminiscent of mashed potatoes only it is a whole grain and vegetable side dish in one. I use it exactly like mashed potatoes topped with gravy. The final texture depends on cooking the millet and cauliflower until they are completely soft so they will get smooth in your food processor. Here is what I did:

Mashed Millet and Cauliflower
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup millet, dry
½ cup yellow onion, peeled and minced
3 cup water
1 small head cauliflower (approximately 4 cups of florets)
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (to add buttery flavor)
white pepper and salt to taste

Directions:

Combine millet, onion and water in a covered saucepan and bring to boil. Now reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. You want the millet to be very soft and absorb the water.

While the millet is cooking steam the cauliflower florets until they are very tender.

Place the cauliflower into your food processor and pulse until smooth. Add the cooked millet and onions and nutritional yeast and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as you desire.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 148
Calories From Fat (8%) - 12.45

Total Fat - 1.49g
Saturated Fat - 0.26g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 25.76mg
Potassium - 287.65mg
Total Carbohydrates - 29.06g
Fiber-  4.73g
Sugar - 2.17g
Protein - 5.14g

Comments:

We think this makes a wonderful substitute for mashed potatoes. Sometimes I crave comfort food and this is a great dish for those times. It also reheats well in the microwave.

If you want to make this really decadent drizzle a litte truffle oil over the top and finish with truffle salt.  Amazing!  Assuming you like truffles that is. ;-)

Unrelated Note:

Since Dan will be out of the office a little while next week due to his trip to Indianapolis he needed to work today. This means I had the day to myself, except for the company of the felines that is. Being by myself I thought the mashed millet and cauliflower was a great idea for lunch and it was. But I also have leftovers for later this week which makes me very happy. ;-)

I want to spend a little more time I the kitchen today. There are a few odds and ends left over from the last trip to the farmers market that I want to use up today. These items may turn into soup since that makes great leftovers for lunch. For now I want to get back into the kitchen and decide what I am cooking.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I hope to be back later today with an update.

Japanese Inspired Dinner

I was chatting with Brandi yesterday and we were discussing my favorite topic, food. When we got to our favorite cuisines Japanese was on both of our lists. Of course this meant that I need to make Japanese food tonight. I love it so, I really don’t know why I don’t cook it more. It is naturally healthy so it is great for anyone that is concerned about health.

For dinner tonight I made three easy quick and dishes, a soba noodle soup, wilted spinach with peanut sauce and a crab and vinegar salad that I made with jackfruit. Here is what I did:

Japanese Inspired Noodle Soup
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 onion, peeled, sliced in half and then thinly sliced into half moons
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 inch ginger, finely julienned
6 cups water
½ zucchini, thinly julienned
4 inch square kombu cut into ¼ to ½ inch squares
3 tablespoons liquid aminos
4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1 bundle soba noodles
3 spring onions, thinly sliced (whites and greens)

Directions:

Combine the onions, garlic, ginger, water, zucchini kombu, liquid aminos, rice wine vinegar and red pepper flakes and cook until the onions are tender. Now add the soba noodles and cook for 6 minutes.

To served top with green onions.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories 167.14
Calories From Fat (5%) - 8.94

Total Fat - 1.31g
Saturated Fat - 0.08g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 987.37mg
Potassium - 580.19mg
Total Carbohydrates - 45.24g
Fiber - 2.56g
Sugar - 4.28g
Protein - 7.31g

Comments:

This is a filling soup. The flavor is sour from the vinegar and a little salty from the liquid aminos. If you like sweet and sour soup I think you will enjoy this one.

Next Recipe:

To go with the soup we had a vegan variation of crab and bell pepper in vinegar. I used jack fruit instead of crab and added additional dressing to make up for the blandness of the jackfruit. Here is what I did:

“Crab” and Red Bell Pepper in Vinegar
Serves 2

Ingredients:

½ red bell pepper, very finely slivered
1 cup of jackfruit, finely slivered
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
½ tablespoon liquid aminos
Stevia, to taste
1 tablespoon quick cucumber pickles for garnish

Directions:

Combine the bell pepper and jackfruit. Add the rice wine vinegar and liquid aminos and toss to coat. Add stevia to taste. I probably used 1/16 of a scoop. Toss the salad to coat with dressing.  Refrigerate until needed.

To serve plate the salad and top with julienned cucumber pickles.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 92.41
Calories From Fat (3%) - 2.82

Total Fat - 0.37g
Saturated Fat - 0.07g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 245.08mg
Potassium - 404.83mg
Total Carbohydrates - 25.9g
Fiber - 2.16g
Sugar-  1.74g
Protein - 1.66g

Comments:

I am still getting used to jackfruit as a stand in for crab. This recipe was very light but had nice flavor from the dressing and pickles. The flavor of this salad was overshadowed by the next dish I am about to post. In the future I will not serve them today. I think this would have been good on top of greens as a main dish salad. Some sesame seeds would have been wonderful on this.

Next recipe:

This may not seem like a Japanese recipe but I found a variation of this in one of my Japanese cookbooks. This was probably the best dish of the evening. We both loved the warm spinach dressed with the peanut sauce. Here is what I did:

Wilted Spinach with Peanut Sauce
Serves 2

Ingredients:

½ pound baby spinach
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon liquid aminos
Stevia, to taste
2 teaspoons of warm water, or enough to create a sauce

Directions:

Wash and spin the spinach. Add the spinach to a hot pan and wilt.

While the spinach is wilted combine the dressing ingredients.

To serve, top the warm wilted spinach with the sauce.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 168.26
Calories From Fat (63%) - 105.5

Total Fat - 12.63g
Saturated Fat - 2.61g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 680.75mg
Potassium - 789.75mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.88g
Fiber - 3.95g
Sugar - 2.71g
Protein - 9.31g

Comments:

If you were going to make dish from our dinner tonight make it this spinach dish. The flavor is rich and the dish is very satisfying. I can definitely see this showing up on our table again. Next time I may add few chopped peanuts for texture. But overall this was very good.

Unrelated notes:

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for me. I need to run my usual Friday errands and check on my parents. I also have a little e-Cornell coursework to do. I will be around later in the day with an update. Until then I hope you are all having a great Thursday. Talk to you soon.

Sesame Snow Peas with Red Onion and Citrus

Tonight we are going out to dinner, which means we won’t be having a “healthy dinner”. Knowing this I decided we would eat uber healthy before dinner to moderate the net effect of dinner. This is a quick veggie dish that took under 10 minutes start to finish. Here is what we had.

Sesame Snow Peas with Red Onion and Citrus
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced top to bottom
2 tablespoon water
¾ pound snow peas. stems removed
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 inch fresh ginger, thinly sliced and julienned
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice vinegar)
1 tablespoon liquid aminos (or reduced sodium soy sauce)
1 tangerine, peeled and seeded
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
toasted sesame seed oil – optional

Directions:

Water sauté the onion until it begins to soften, and then add the snow peas, garlic, ginger mirin, liquid aminos and cook for a few minutes to warm the snow peas. When the ingredients are evenly heated through turn off the heat and add the citrus segments and sesame seeds and stir to coat. If desired you can drizzle a little toasted sesame oil on the dish when you serve it.

Nutritional information (does not include the optional sesame oil):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 158.4
Calories From Fat (14%) - 22.79

Total Fat - 2.92g
Saturated Fat - 0.44g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 492.87mg
Potassium - 554mg
Total Carbohydrates - 31.28g
Fiber - 7.1g
Sugar - 12.22g
Protein - 6.98g

Comments:

The flavor of this dish is not overpowering but definitely not bland. I liked the little bit of sweetness the tangerines added. It would have been great over brown rice (if we weren’t going out tonight). Each serving of this dish contains approximately 2,200IU of vitamin A, 115mg of vitamin C, 150mg of calcium, 4.8mg of iron, 85mcg of folate, 40mcg of vitamin K, 135mg of phosphorus, and 70mg of magnesium. I thought the nutrition on this was rather amazing given the amount of calories.

Unrelated note:

I need to get moving and get ready for dinner tonight. We are going to DC this evening. With the “winter precipitation” we had overnight we are leaving earlier than usual.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy new year. Be back tomorrow.

Baby Bok Choy with Fermented Black Bean Sauce and Cashews

When we stopped at Wegman’s last night after dinner the baby bok choy looked so fresh that I felt I needed to buy 4 and figure out what to do with them later. This is normally how I grocery shop. I buy what looks good and figure it out later. For some reason I didn’t really give dinner any thought today so we had a “fusion” meal, which is what I call it when I mix different cultures in one meal.

As always I lightly cooked the bok choy (since it is part of the cruciferous vegetable family) so that it would retain the maximum amount of nutrition. I added the black bean sauce and mirin for flavor and the cashews for texture. Here is the Asian inspired bok choy dish we had tonight.

Baby Bok Choy with Fermented Black Bean Sauce and Cashews
Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 baby bok choy, cut in half top to bottom
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 tablespoon fermented black bean sauce
1 tablespoon mirin (or use rice wine vinegar sweetened with a little agave or stevia)
1 tablespoon cashews, or to taste

Direction:

Run water through the inside of the cut baby bok choy to remove any grit that may have accumulated. Pat dry the bok choy halves.

Add the canola oil to skillet and place the bok choy in the skillet cut side down. Cook on high for three or four minutes, until just tender. Now plate the bok choy.

Whisk together the fermented black bean sauce and mirin and drizzle over each plate. Top with cashews and serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 78.82
Calories From Fat (48%) - 37.96

Total Fat - 5.02g
Saturated Fat - 0.6g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 652.22mg
Potassium - 430.67mg
Total Carbohydrates - 9.62g
Fiber - 2.03g
Sugar - 3.37g
Protein - 3.26g

Comments:

If you weren’t watching your carb intake as closely as we are this would be good over brown rice. The bok choy was a little crisp but cut easily with a knife. It had good flavor from the black bean sauce and mirin.

Each serving of this dish contained approximately 6,250IU of vitamin A, 150mg of calcium, 95mg of folate, 65mcg of vitamin K, and 70mg of phosphorus. How about that nutrition for less than 80 calories?

Unrelated note:

The hubby pulled the dehydrator out of the box and set it up for me. He is such a good guy. The dehydrator is smaller than I expected, but in a good way. I just can’t decide what I am going to make first. Now I am wishing that we were going to be home tomorrow to play with it. I am just like a little kid with a new toy sometimes (this is one of those times).

It is getting late here so I am going to call it a night soon. I hope you all have a wonderful evening.

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and Apples

This was another request from my husband. To make it healthier I used stevia in place of sugar or agave. Stevia worked fine in this dish. I added julienned apple for additional natural sweetness. This dish gets a big flavor punch from the cloves.

When you make this dish it is important to lightly cook the cabbage so that the maximum amount of nutrition remains in the cabbage. I cook it until the cabbage just begins to wilt and is still a little crunchy. Here is the cabbage dish I made tonight.

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and Apples
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
¼ cup water
2 apples, cored and cut into julienne
8 cups red cabbage, finely sliced
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 whole cloves, smashed (or ¼ teaspoon ground cloves)
6 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 scoops stevia, or to taste

Directions:

Water sauté the onion until tender. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until tender (about 5 minutes). Serve hot or warm.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 107.16
Calories From Fat (5%) - 5.63

Total Fat - 0.68g
Saturated Fat - 0.09g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 153.67mg
Potassium - 806.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 24.93g
Fiber - 8.44g
Sugar - 4.84g
Protein - 4.01g

Comments:

This dish was well received tonight at dinner. My father asked me to show him how to make it once he picks up a head of red cabbage. I would say this dish is omni approved.

Each serving of this dish contains approximately 400IU of vitamin A, 130mg of vitamin C, 150mg of calcium, 175mcg of folate, 75mg of phosphorus, and 50mg of magnesium. Cabbage is good source of calcium and vitamin C, which is always something I forget until I get the nutrition numbers from the cookbook program.

Unrelated note:

I am going to relax the rest of this evening so there won’t be any more recipes until tomorrow. I have a few errands to fun tomorrow but should have time to post a recipe or two before dinner.

Have a great evening everyone!

Genovese Green Beans with Pesto

This recipe is one that I served on Christmas with the lasagna. It is a family favorite. In Genoa they make lasagna with potatoes, green beans and basil pesto. Pesto works just as well with the green beans alone. When I want a quick veggie side with a ton of flavor I make this. Since I always keep basil pesto in the freezer this comes together quickly. Here is our favorite green bean recipe.

Genovese Green Beans with Pesto
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

8 cups frozen organic green beans
3 tablespoons Genovese pesto

Directions:

Steam the green beans until they are tender crisp (about 5 minutes). Toss the green beans with pesto and serve hot or at room temperature. If desired you can sprinkle some toasted pine nuts on top.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 113.64
Calories From Fat (38%) - 43.33

Total Fat- 4.7g
Saturated Fat - 0.54g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 13.5mg
Potassium - 489.7mg
Total Carbohydrates - 16.26g
Fiber - 7.65g
Sugar - 3.2g
Protein - 4.54g

Comments:

If you like pesto you will like this recipe. It is a vegetable dish packed with flavor. Each serving of this recipe contains approximately 1,700IU of vitamin A, 90mg of calcium, 85mcg of folate, 50mcg of vitamin K, 100mg of phosphorus, and 65mg of magnesium.

Unrelated note:

This is going to be it for me tonight. I hope to get a few more of the backlogged recipes posted tomorrow.

My husband actually had a dinner request for tomorrow. We will be having beefy seitan cutlets, herbed spaetzle, and wilted red cabbage. It is somehow comforting to have some idea of what I am cooking tomorrow. I hope you all had a great day.

Brussels Sprouts and Clementine Sections with Citrus Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

Fall means brussels sprouts season at our house. As I have explained before my husband loves brussels sprouts so I try to make him a different version each week. This is the version I dreamed up tonight. It is a cross between a salad and a side dish. My father, who hates to cook, actually asked me for the recipe tonight. He said it was his favorite dish at dinner. Quite an endorsement I thought.

If you don’t have clementines or tangerines substitute one orange instead. I didn’t include the zest tonight because the citrus wasn’t organic. Had it been I would have added the citrus zest to the dressing for extra flavor. The citrus was not supremed because I have read that the citrus membrane is full of nutrition and potentially prevents cancer. Research is recent, but it seems to indicate the citrus membrane keeps trigylcerides down and helps prevent color and liver cancer in lab animals.

Tonight’s sprout dish is a combination of things that my hubby loves. Sprouts and poppy seed dressing are two of his favorites so I knew he would like the dish (and he did). I didn’t expect my parents to be so taken with it. If you are a sprout fan you may like it to. Here is what I made tonight.

Brussels Sprouts and Clementine Sections with Citrus Poppy Seed Vinaigrette
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups brussels sprouts, cleaned and cut in half
1 tablespoon clementine juice (1/2 a clementine)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon agave
½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or canola oil
1 pinch salt
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
2 ½ clementines, sectioned, seeds removed

Directions:

Microwave the brussels sprouts until they are tender crisp (3 minutes in my microwave).

Combine the clementine juice, wine vinegar, agave, olive oil, salt, pepper and poppy seeds. Whisk to incorporate the dressing.

Pour the dressing over the warm sprouts so that they will absorb more of the dressing. Add the clementine sections to the sprouts and toss to coat them in the dressing. Serve warm or room temperature.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 103.08
Calories From Fat (24%) - 24.88

Total Fat - 2.87g
Saturated Fat - 0.43g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 475.39mg
Potassium - 599.7mg
Total Carbohydrates - 18.2g
Fiber - 5.32g
Sugar - 7.52g
Protein - 4.58g

Comments:

The flavor of the dish is well balanced. It isn’t really sweet, or tart. Even I enjoyed this, and I am not a sprout lover.

If you want to reduce the fat reduce the poppy seeds, most of the calories in poppy seeds are from fat. I like the texture they add, but they are optional.

Each serving of this dish contains more than 1,200IU of vitamin A, 120mg of vitamin C, 100mg of calcium, 100mcg of folate, 220mcg of vitamin K, and 100mg of phosphorus.

Unrelated note:

I need to get my kitchen cleaned from dinner and work in a little more exercise.

I hope to have time to post another Thanksgiving recipe tonight. If not tonight I will get at least two of them posted tomorrow.

I hope you are all having a great evening.

Butternut Squash, Pineapple, Dried Cranberries and Walnut Salad

This is another dish we had for Thanksgiving that changed sometime between the original menu and when I actually made it. I can’t say why I changed my mind; I just wasn’t in the mood for spinach when I started making this salad. Since the hubby and I love vanilla I decided to add that to salad and went from there.

Surprisingly this salad was one of the hits on the dinner table. Everyone liked and it and said I should make it again. I think it was the vanilla but am not actually certain why it was so popular. The salad was a tiny bit sweet from the maple syrup, pineapple and cranberries, but also had the unmistakable floral aroma from the vanilla. I enjoyed the textural contrast from the walnuts. Overall this dish came together is a very pleasant way that we all enjoyed. Here is what I did.

Butternut Squash, Pineapple, Dried Cranberries and Walnut Salad
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

6 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into ½” cubes
1 cup pineapple, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 orange, zested and juiced
2 tablespoon toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

Directions:

Steam the butternut squash until it is tender. Set it aside to cool. Add the pineapple and dried cranberries.

Whisk together the maple syrup, vanilla, orange juice and zest and add it the salad. Toss to coat everything and refrigerate until needed.

Top the salad with the toasted walnuts just before serving to keep them from getting too soft. Best served cold, or at least cool.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 103.11
Calories From Fat (3%) - 2.64

Total Fat - 0.3g
Saturated Fat - 0.03g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 5.16mg
Potassium - 425.88mg
Total Carbohydrates - 25.69g
Fiber - 3.12g
Sugar 6.8g
Protein - 1.25g

Comments:

I was a little surprised that a dish I sort of tossed together an hour before dinner would be so popular. Everyone, including the picky parents, really liked this dish. It is only subtly sweet. Don’t expect it to be cranberry sauce sweet.

Each serving of this salad has over 11,100IU of vitamin A. If you think you are low on vitamin A, eat more butternut squash.

Unrelated note:

Things have been hectic here preparing for Christmas. Sorry I have been late getting all the Thanksgiving recipes posted. I do hope to have them all posted by the end of the coming week. I have quite a few more to write up. I hadn’t realized how much I made until I started putting in all of it into the cookbook software. No wonder I was exhausted after dinner. It really was a ridiculous number of dishes. Oh well, we all enjoyed the food and there were plenty of leftovers to go around.

I need to get back to Christmas decorating. It takes days to get it all done because I am so ridiculously OCD about it. I will try to take some decent photos and post them after we get it all done.

If I have time I will be back later with another recipe tonight. I made a nice curried vegetable dish for dinner tonight that I hope to get posted this evening.

Sauerkraut with Apple and Onion

(pictured: Mashed Potato and Cauliflower with Sauerkraut, Apple and Onion)

Sauerkraut is a traditional Thanksgiving side dish where I live in Baltimore, Maryland. I think it is because there was a sizable German population. In fact both my family and my husband’s family have German heritage even though it is the Italian side of my family that relate to the most.

I adore sauerkraut, I could eat it everyday and never tire of it. My husband on the other hand is not thrilled with sauerkraut. After asking many questions I discovered that he didn’t like the saltiness. I started soaking the sauerkraut in fresh water to remove some of the salt and it worked; now my hubby likes sauerkraut. Had it not been for my hubby I wouldn’t have tried to remove the salt but now I like it better this way and feel good knowing it is better for us.

Sauerkraut with Apple and Onion
Makes 8 servings about ½ cup each

Ingredients:

4 cups sauerkraut
½ red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon water
1 apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup vegetables stock (or water)
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Drain the sauerkraut in a wire colander. Drop the colander (including sauerkraut) in a big bowl of water. Allow the sauerkraut to stand in the water while you cook the onions, then drain. This removes a lot of the sodium from the sauerkraut making it more heart healthy.

Water sauté the onions in 2 tablespoons of water until soft. Add the sliced apple, vegetable stock (or water), rinsed and drained sauerkraut, and caraway stock to the pot and simmer until the apple is soft.

Before serving taste the sauerkraut for seasoning and add black pepper and salt if desired.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 29.28
Calories From Fat (6%) - 1.67

Total Fat - 0.19g
Saturated Fat - 0.03g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 220.2mg
Potassium - 148.24mg
Total Carbohydrates - 6.41g
Fiber - 2.55g
Sugar - 3.06g
Protein - 0.88g

The sodium number is overstated since I used the package numbers and didn’t reduce them. The sodium has been reduced by soaking the sauerkraut in water (it tastes less salty), but since I didn’t know by how much, I used the sodium number per the package nutritional information to be more conservative.

Comments:

I like to have sauerkraut as a snack with a small amount of baked or mashed potato. If you have it with the half potato half cauliflower mash it is even a healthier snack. What I like about this snack is that it is filling but is low calorie, low fat and has a decent amount of fiber, and I really like the taste of this sauerkraut.

Brussels Sprouts and Red Onions in Lemon Sauce with Almonds

This is one of the dishes that changed from my original Thanksgiving menu. I thought I had stashed a jar of chestnuts in the pantry but when I went to get them they weren’t there. Since I hadn’t planned well I changed the brussels sprouts dish on the fly. Normally I would make my brussels sprouts with agave and mustard but I thought we had enough sweet dishes on the table so I wanted something that was all savory. Lemon and almonds both work beautifully with brussels sprouts so that is what I went with.

The men in my family love brussels sprouts so they are somewhat of a requirement for fall dinners. Since I like lemon this recipe also worked well for me. Remember to cook the brussels sprouts as little as possible to retain the most nutrition. Since brussels sprouts are part of the cruciferous vegetable family they are good for preventing cancer when lightly cooked. Here is what I made.

Brussels Sprouts and Red Onions in Lemon Sauce with Almonds
Makes 8 approximately ¾ cup servings

Ingredients:

2 pounds of brussels sprouts
½ red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups vegetables stock
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons almonds, sliced
1 pinch Italian finishing salt

Directions:

Clean the brussels sprouts by removing the bottom of the sprout with a sharp paring knife and removing the two exterior leaves. Cut each sprout in half, top to bottom. Steam the sprouts until they are just beginning to get tender (about 8 minutes). They will continue to cook in a sauce so you don’t want to take them too far when you steam them.

Cook the onion in a little vegetable stock (about a ½ cup) until it is soft. Add the remaining vegetable stock, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add the dissolved cornstarch and bring the sauce to a simmer so that the sauce will reach its maximum thickness.

To serve, plate the sprouts and sauce and top with the almonds and a pinch of the Italian finishing salt and serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 74.07
Calories From Fat (17%) - 12.52

Total Fat - 1.49g
Saturated Fat - 0.16g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 65.9mg
Potassium - 468.23mg
Total Carbohydrates - 13.74g
Fiber - 4.81g
Sugar - 2.81g
Protein - 4.43g

Comments:

The sprouts were well received at dinner last night. While everyone loves the version I make with agave and mustard these also disappeared fairly quickly. I liked the acidity in the sauce and the crunchiness of the almonds. Overall this is a nice well-rounded dish.

Each serving of this dish contains more than 800IU of vitamin A, 100mg of vitamin C, 70mcg of folate, and 200mcg of vitamin K. Not too shabby for a small serving of veggies.

Unrelated Note:

I need to get back to cleaning. However, I will be back later today with another recipe. I hope you are all having a great day.

Mashed Potatoes and Cauliflower with Caramelized Garlic

(pictured: mashed potatoes and cauliflower with caramelized garlic and topped with Italian finishing salt)

Last night we were up a little later than normal (about 1:30am) and decided to sleep this morning until we work up. At 9 am we finally decided to get up and start our respective days. As usual we had our cranberry and apple oatmeal this morning, green drink and green tea with ginger and pomegranate. We both like to start our day as healthy as possible.

The hubby has left for his office downtown to get some work done and I will be spending the day at home cleaning and getting ready to start putting up the Christmas decorations tonight after dinner. Something tells me there will be a little cooking today too. ;)

Before I get started cleaning I wanted to post another recipe from Thanksgiving. The family thinks mashed potatoes are a requirement on the Thanksgiving table. I don’t think any of us need that much starch. In order to make the potatoes a little healthier I substituted half the potatoes with cauliflower and added caramelized garlic for flavor that didn’t involve a lot of fat. These potatoes were very popular last night. There were even seconds after I told people that the dish was half cauliflower. Here is how I made the potatoes last night.

Mashed Potatoes and Cauliflower with Caramelized Garlic
Makes 8 servings of 1 cup each

Ingredients:

4 cups of peeled, potatoes
4 cups chopped cauliflower florets
2 heads caramelized garlic, drained of excess oil
1 pinch kosher salt (or Italian Finishing salt)

Directions:

Boil and drain the potatoes and smash or rice. Boil and drain the cauliflower and smash of rice and add to the potatoes. Add the caramelized garlic (skins removed) and stir to combine it into the potatoes and cauliflower. Season with kosher salt or Italian finishing salt and serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 211.36
Calories From Fat (5%) - 10.07

Total Fat - 1.15g
Saturated Fat - 0.19g
Cholesterol -0mg
Sodium - 65.79mg
Potassium - 1151.45mg
Total Carbohydrates - 45.99g
Fiber - 6.48g
Sugar - 3.08g
Protein - 6.29g

The numbers above assume that ½ tablespoon of oil remained after I drained garlic. That is probably overstating the number but I would prefer to be conservative with my numbers.

Comments:

In spite of these potatoes containing two heads of garlic they were not as “garlicky” as I expected. Next time I may use three heads of garlic. As they were made they would work with most any sides, but I prefer a decided Italian flavor.

The texture of these was exactly like mashed potatoes. If I hadn’t told the family, they would have had no idea they were half cauliflower. I don’t think I will ever make my mashed potatoes without cauliflower again.

Unrelated notes:

I am off to clean the house. When I take a break from cleaning I will post another recipe or two from last night.

I hope you are all having a great long weekend.

Creamed Cabbage and Spinach in a Dijon White Sauce

(pictured: creamed cabbage and spinach over baked potato)

After hearing that my seitan paillards looked like schnitzel yesterday I had German food on the brain today when I was deciding what to cook for dinner.

When I was growing up there was a great German restaurant in Chicago called “The Berghoff”. It had the best German food, but a closed a couple of years ago. Even though I haven’t lived in the mid-west in almost 3 decades, when “The Berghoff” closed it was like losing an old friend. I immediately bought the cookbook they released hoping for the some of my favorite recipes from the restaurant. A few of them were in the book, but mostly those recipes are now just memories.

One of the best dishes I had ever eaten was the creamed spinach they used to serve. I know it was probably a heart attack on a plate but it was utterly delicious. The creamed cabbage and spinach I served tonight was my attempt to make a healthy version of the creamed spinach from my childhood. Here is what I made.

Creamed Cabbage and Spinach in a Dijon White Sauce
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and finely sliced
½ cup water to sauté onion
8 cups finely shredded cabbage
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
5 cups almond milk, unsweetened
5 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup fresh dill, finely minced

Directions:

Water sauté the onion until soft. Add the cabbage and spinach and cook until wilted. Don't overcook the cabbage since it is more nutritious the less it is cooked. Remove the vegetables to a wire strainer to eliminate the excess water.

While the vegetables are draining heat the almond milk until it is simmering. Add the cornstarch that was thoroughly dissolved in water to the hot almond milk and whisk to combine. Return the milk to a simmer to check the consistency of the sauce. If you want it thicker add another tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in water. Whisk the mustard into the white sauce and add salt and pepper until you like the level. Return the cooked and drained vegetables to the sauce and heat through. Stir the fresh dill into the sauce a few minutes before serving.

This dish is good served plain in a ramekin, over baked potatoes (as we had it tonight) or over pasta or rice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 101.07
Calories From Fat (25%) - 25.53

Total Fat - 2.8g
Saturated Fat - 0.06g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 234.63mg
Potassium - 450.94mg
Total Carbohydrates - 17.15g
Fiber - 4.53g
Sugar - 4.7g
Protein - 3.01g

Comments:

When you have something in your memory reality can rarely meet your expectation. However, I really liked this dish. It isn’t as rich as the one I remember but it also isn’t going to raise your cholesterol and/or clog your arteries. For a healthy dish this is quite good. My initial thought was to serve this on potato latkes but I opted for baked potato instead to keep the overall fat level reasonable.

Tonight we also had this with seitan paillards (reheated from yesterday’s batch) and a quick beet and apple relish. I will post the relish next.

On an unrelated note when I was at Costco on Friday I bought the new holiday album by Sting. It doesn’t contain the normal Christmas tunes, but I am really enjoying it. If you are Sting fan you may want to check it out.

I am starting to gear up for Christmas at our house. After Thanksgiving dinner we start the Christmas decorating. I adore Christmas and like to decorate every floor of our house. The felines get into the action by taking the decorations down as quickly as we can put them up. There is lots of holiday spirit at our house with humans and felines alike.

Green Beans with Walnuts and Onions

This particular vegetable side dish is based on a recipe that my friend Louis brought to my attention.

My variation eliminated the butter and olive oil, substituted walnuts for almonds and added red pepper flakes. By now you know I used walnuts because they contain omega 3 fatty acids. My husband and I like to add a little spice with red pepper flakes but you can omit them if you are feeding children or elderly relatives. If you are interested in the medicinal properties of peppers check out this link to an article on WebMD.

Walnut oil is not necessary but a little fat is required to carry the flavor. I have used Earth Balance, olive oil, canola oil or grapeseed oil in place of the walnut oil. All the variations work well, but I think the walnut oil provides the right flavor for the dish.

Green Beans with Walnuts and Onions
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 red onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup water or white wine to water sauté the vegetables
4 cups green beans, stems removed
2 tablespoons walnuts, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon walnut oil
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes - optional
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook the onion in water or wine until soft (about 5 minutes). Then add green beans and cover the pan and cook until beans begin to soften (another 5 minutes).

To serve, top each serving with walnuts, walnut oil, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 79.01
Calories From Fat (40%) - 31.92

Total Fat - 3.75g
Saturated Fat - 0.37g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 7.49mg
Potassium - 246.44mg
Total Carbohydrates - 10.73g
Fiber - 4.48g
Sugar - 1.64g
Protein - 2.89g

Comments:

This makes a nice green bean side dish for Thanksgiving if you are looking for something that is flavorful but not a variation on the standard green bean casserole. It is also a great weekday dish because it is so fast. Sometimes I serve it over brown rice and make it a meal.