The Delightfully Healthy Blog

Well That's...Different

Chef Daniel Angerer decided to try something new recently.  He calls it Mommy's Milk Cheese.  It's made from...um...his wife's breast milk.  I guess you can't get more local than that.  And since his wife is an eco-conscious vegetarian, I'm thinking it could be called organic, too.  I'm also thinking I'll pass, thanks.  But if you're so inclined, he gives the recipe on his blog (where he states that he did not, as has been reported in the media, create, make or serve this cheese at his restaurant, Klee Brasserie).  He talks there, as well, about the ethical considerations of using milk meant for his baby.  It's an interesting read. 

He definitely gets kudos for creativity.

I learned about this on Care2's site, by the way, which is a great source for healthy, green, planet-conscious news (again, if you're so inclined).

Chocolate Nightmare

They're at it again.  Those enormous, faceless conglomerates are buying up all the Next Big Things.  Okay, that's normal.  I expect it to happen eventually, whenever anything reaches the mainstream public consciousness.  But now they've gone too far.  It's not enough that Hersey ruined Scharffen Berger and Dagoba.  Now Kraft wants Green & Black's!

Where's a girl to get a decent bar of dark chocolate, without soy lecithin (non-GMO or not)?

Luckily, there's still Fair Trade.  And other small, artisinal brands, which I won't name here, in the hope that they stay small, artisinal and good.

Harumph.

Simple Things

I have a tendency to complicate things.  You're shocked, aren't you.  Well, it's true.  It's often what's at the heart of procrastination, for me.  Because I have a big, complex idea in my head, and so I think I need to have lots of time and it will be hard and, well, big and complex, to accomplish whatever it is.  So then I don't start.

Sometimes this tendency results in overkill.  For instance, I can't just put granola in my yogurt and call it done.  No, I have to add flax seeds.  And raisins.  And almonds and maybe walnuts.  And some cinnamon.  Possibly some chocolate chips, if I'm feeling feisty.  And maybe some fresh fruit.  Same goes for salads.  Lettuce, tomato, cucumber?  Please!  I'm just getting started!  My morning smoothie (about which I will tell you more later), has at least six ingredients on any given day.  At least three of them are there because they're good for me.

Anywho.

Last night I got hit with the simple stick. 

I even said to ChuckieT, don't get too excited about dinner.  It's pretty simple.

Will it taste good?  he asked.

Oh, it should be tasty, I replied.  Just not particularly fancy.

That's all I need, he said.

After dinner he said it was possibly the best pasta I've ever made for him.   In fact, he insisted that I blog about it, so I would have it written down.  So I wouldn't forget how to make it for him again.  That's pretty high praise from ChuckieT.

Easy Cheesy Pasta

This is pretty much my take on caprese, which you will immediate see when you read the ingredient list.  A word, first, about those ingredients:  make sure they are as fresh and high quality as you can find/afford.  That's the trick to simple, I'm learning.  At least in cooking.  Buy good stuff and let it do it's thing.  In other words, have faith.  (Hmmm.  I think I've just had an a-ha moment.)

Ingredients

Rotelli pasta, enough for two people (I prefer whole wheat - I think it adds more flavor)
Pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Olive oil
A hefty handful of fresh basil leaves, julienned (that's a fancy word for sliced into strips)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
10-15 grape tomatoes, sliced in half
2 1/4-inch slices of fresh mozzarella, cubed
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions

Cook pasta as directed on the package, drain and set aside.

In the now dry and empty pasta pot, turn heat to medium high and toss in a handful of pine nuts.  Stir around until they begin to brown and/or smell nice and nutty.  Remove and set aside.  Pour in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil and turn heat to medium-low.  Add garlic and sautee for 30 to 60 seconds.  Add herbs, turn off heat and stir to coat.  Add pasta, tomatoes and mozzarella, salt and pepper, and another drizzle of olive oil.  Stir.  The heat from the pasta and the pot itself will wilt the herbs and melt the cheese.  Scoop into bowls, sprinkle with pine nuts and serve (with a fork, if you're me; with a spoon if you're like ChuckieT).

The only downside to this recipe is that we didn't end up with leftovers for lunch.  It was too good.  You might want to cook double the amount and hide half of it away.  Seriously.  Hide it.

Hot Tat Soi

My wonderful friend Claudia invited ChuckieT and me to lunch to meet her parents on Saturday.   She had the brilliant idea of making the event a snack-fest.  Salsa, gaucamole, carrots, celery, cheese, peaches.  It turned out to be quite a spread, and the company was even better.  There was lots of laughter, lively conversation and dogs and cats running around endearing themselves and having a great time.  (Well, the dogs were running around.  The cats were mostly napping and/or hiding.  They think my dogs are weird.)  Sometimes, when I'm trying to explain how things other than food can nourish us, I'll ask the person I'm speaking with to think about the last time they had a really memorable meal.  What was it about the meal that made it so great?  (Usually, we're talking memorable in a good way, although it could work the other way, too.  But I like to keep things positive whenever possible.)  The food itself is often pretty far down the list.  The company comes first a lot.  The atmosphere.  The reason for the meal - a celebration, a commemoration of something, a reunion, perhaps.  When we feel relaxed and happy.  When we like who we're with and where we are.  When no one is checking their watch so they can rush off to the next thing.  That's when food can taste the best, and our bodies can digest it well.  It's those things surrounding the meal, that are also feeding us, that make it all work so well.  Of course, really good food doesn't hurt, either.

This was one of those memorable meals.

As it happened, so far were we from rushing off that we didn't finish lunch until nearly dinner time.  Which meant that I didn't need much for dinner.  Since ChuckieT and I had decided to rent a movie (Away We Go - I HIGHLY recommend it!), and I felt the need to eat something green, I fired up the oven to make one of my favorite things:  roasted greens.  I look forward to roasting season all year.  Usually I use kale, which is hardy and strong and comes out nicely crisp.  But what I had on hand this time was tat soi -  a lovely, spicy little green that I hadn't heard of until a few years ago.  What the heck, I thought.  What's the worst that could happen?  As it turned out, the worst thing was that I thought for a minute or two that I had simply sauteed some greens in the oven.  A little on the overkill side, but not bad.  Then, at ChuckieT's suggestion, I waited a little longer.  Bingo!  Nice half-crispy, half-chewy little clumps of deliciousness.  Ahhhhhhh.  The only downside was that there wasn't more.  Greens shrink A LOT.

Roasted Tat Soi (or Kale, or Collard Greens or Bok Choy or...)

Ingredients

1 container/bunch/head  fresh tat soi or green of your choice
Olive oil to coat
Sea salt to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Wash greens and dry them thoroughly.  Tear into bite-sized pieces (if necessary) and place on a cookie sheet or roasting pan.  Drizzle with olive oil - not too much, or the green won't crisp - and toss to coat.  (This is where I use my hands and get in some gratuitous skin softening.  Great for the cuticles!)  Sprinkle with sea salt and place in oven.  Roast for 5-6 minutes, toss, then continue roasting until most leaves are crispy - at least at the edges - but not burnt.

Eat with fingers, fresh out of the oven, while enjoying a movie of your choice.  Feel virtuous that you're not eating popcorn or milk duds.  Then forget to feel virtuous as the salty, roasty flavor makes your mouth all happy.

The New York Times on Probiotics

I just read the New York Times article, Probiotics:  Looking Underneath the Yogurt Label. 

My favorite quote:  '"To say a product contains Lactobacillus is like saying you're bringing George Clooney to a party.  It may be the actor, or it may be an 85-year-old guy from Atlanta who just happens to be named George Clooney.  With probiotics, there are strain-to-strain differences."'

I'm fond of yelling at the television when a "probiotic yogurt" commercial comes on.  All properly made yogurt (and many other fermented products), contain probiotics.  They're the bacteria that create yogurt out of mik.  Another thing to keep in mind, however, is the medium.  An organic, naturally made, whole-fat yogurt is going to be better for you than a highly-processed, chemical-filled, de-fatted one like those normally advertised, which are harder for your body to digest. 

For those lactose-intolerant among us, miso is another great way to get probiotics from food.  Again, the kind that's made the old-fashioned way (like they've done in Japan for hundreds of years - or however long miso has been around) will be better for you than the kind that's been sitting in a hot pot all day at the local sushi place.

But I digress.  Read the article.  It's a good one.

 

Lookit!

ChuckieT made me breakfast!   (Warning:  clicking to enlarge photo may induce drooling.)  That's a whole wheat baguette made into french toast and then filled with delicious things.  I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

He promises to write a guest post to tell us how he did it.

Milk: Why Whole is Better

There is a very interesting argument for drinking and eating whole, unprocessed milk products on Care2's site.  I couldn't have said it better myself.

Heirlooms and Toast

One of the many wonderful things about ChuckieT is that he likes to cook.  It works out very well, because I love having someone cook for me just as much as I love to cook myself.  And this is the perfect time of year to experiment in the kitchen, because there are so many wonderful, fresh ingredients to play with.  The fresher the ingredients, of course, the less you have to do with them.  In fact, the less you should do with them.  Just stand back and let them shine on their own.  And that's exactly what ChuckieT did this weekend with our heirloom tomatoes, fresh from the garden.  [ETA:  Mea culpa, mea culpa.  Our tomatoes are German Stripes, not Green Stripes.  Oops!]  He was gracious enough to share his recipe with me, and allow me to share it with you.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!  (Sorry there aren't any pictures - we were too hungry.)

Heirloom Bruschetta*

Ingredients

For topping:

• 2 medium heirloom tomatoes (he used Green German Stripes from our garden), chopped to 1/2 inch, de-seeded and drained
• 1/3 orange bell pepper, chopped to 1/2 inch
• 1/2 small cucumber (to equal 1/2 to 1/3 the amount of tomatoes) de-seeded and chopped to 1/2 inch
• 1 teaspoon or so of fresh medium hot pepper (NOT habanero) with NO seeds and minimal ribs(the white stuff where the heat is)
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of fresh mint, minced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon of dried tarragon
• Touch of garlic powder
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

For bruschetta:

• Whole wheat sour dough bread (or whatever you prefer), sliced
• Extra virgin olive oil (the best quality you can afford)
• Soft goat cheese (the best quality you can afford)

Directions

Mix topping ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Brush slices of bread thoroughly with olive oil .  Grill until crisp on both sides.  Spread with soft goat cheese and top with tomato mixture.  Serve and eat immediately.  Wipe large, contented smile off face (optional).

Thank you, ChuckieT!

* We originally called it Heirloom Crostini, but then I got to wondering about the difference between bruschetta and crostini, and so I looked it up.  Turns out, crostini are little toasts (usually baguette sized) which are most often baked and then topped with various things, while bruschetta is the toast itself, usually from a larger loaf, and brushed with oil and/or garlic and toasted and/or grilled.  So technically, what ChuckieT made was bruschetta with toppings.  Or you could just call it delicious and stop there.

More Avocados and Tomatoes

And cucumbers, too!

My friend Claudia is amazingly generous.  She has allowed my husband and I to use part of her garden for our tomatoes and cucumbers.  Well, really, she's turned the whole thing into a sort of co-op for all three of us.  We not only get the benefit of organic, home-grown veggies (how much more local can you get?), but we get to get our own hands in the dirt, let the dogs run around and have close encounters with her cats (endlessly entertaining!), and have many afternoons of outdoor fun, friendship and lots of laughter.

This week we also had lots (and lots and lots) of tomatoes, both grape and Black Prince, and some seriously delicious cucumbers.  [Post harvest pic here as soon as Claudia sends it to me, hint-hint.] 

ETA: voila*!

So last night, rather than re-make Sunday night's salad, as delectable as it was, I decided to do something a little different.  I made guacamole out of the remaining avocados, and then turned my attention tomato-ward.  My husband (always thinking, that man) had grabbed a fresh mozzarella at the grocery store.  So, we had tomatoes, we had mozz, we had fresh basil from the terrace.  And we had cucumbers.  What to do, what to do...

Jody's Made-Up Caprese-like Salad

Ingredients

2 medium cucumbers, skinned and diced
2 medium heirloom tomatoes, diced
1 handful grape tomatoes, sliced in half
several basil leaves, torn
As much cubed mozzarella as you want
1 small clove garlic, minced (or more, to taste)
Sea salt and fresh pepper to taste (as always)

Directions

Toss everything in a bowl, drizzle with Basil Oil (thanks again, Mr. Flay - that's just like it sounds, some extra virgin olive oil, some fresh basil: put it in a blender and voila*!) and serve.  The tomatoes and cucumbers let out enough juice to mix with the basil oil, salt, pepper and garlic to form an amazingly good dressing all on their own.  I was hoping for leftovers for lunch the next day but, um, no.  We ate it all.

* Incidentally, does anyone know how to get accents on letters in a web-editor?  Short of creating them in Word and cutting and pasting, I mean?  It annoys me no end not to have that l'accent grave on the final 'a.'

TV Dinner

It was one of those days.  The Sunday after a busy Saturday after a busy week.  Rain on the way.  I almost didn't make it off the couch.  But we had Bobby Flay on.   (Yes, I read Mr. Pollan's article.  He makes some interesting points, but I guess, once again, I'm not like most people.  I find cooking shows inspiring enough to actually get up and try what I see.)

I was knitting, not really paying close attention.  Then he made an avocado salad that sounded really, really good.  Unfortunately, it only caught my attention about half-way through, so I didn't get the whole recipe.  He used some kind of crumbled cheese - Mexican, I think.  And pine nuts.  I LOVE pine nuts.  (He also added red onion, my husband informs me.  I seem to have blocked it out, because I don't really like raw onion - red, white, or even vidalia.  Cooked, carmelized, bring it on!  But not raw.  It's too strong a taste, to me, plus they make my stomach hurt about half the time.)  There was fresh basil and tomatoes.  What's not to love?  It just so happens that we harvested a whole slew of tomatoes yesterday from Claudia's backyard.  Heirloom Black Princes.  Oh, so good!

Anyway, later this afternoon we found ourselves at the grocery store. 

Guess what we had for dinner? 

We wandered the aisles, with a vague idea in mind based on what we'd seen on television, and then adding to it as we found interesting ingredients.  It ended up being a great night in the kitchen, with my husband and I each making part of the dinner, which then became a really wonderful whole.  My favorite kind of night.

I had decided to do my take on the avocado salad, so I had to make up the recipe, based on what I remembered of what I saw.  But once I tasted it, I wanted to write it down as soon as possible, so I wouldn't forget what I did.  It was that good.  Thank you, Bobby!

Flay-Inspired Avocado Salad

Ingredients

For the salad:
2 ripe avocados, cut into chunks
2 medium heirloom tomatoes
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
6 or 7 basil leaves, hand-ripped
crumbled feta cheese (I couldn't find the stuff Bobby used - cojito, I think it was)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the dressing:
2-to-1 extra virgin olive oil to red wine vinegar (if I ever write a cookbook, I'm going to have to start measuring)
1/4 teaspoon or so ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
1-1/2 teaspoons or so raw honey
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

• Chop tomatoes and set aside in colander or fine-mesh strainer to drain.  This will help keep your salad from getting too watery (you may also want to consider removing the seeds and pulp, but I hated to waste any part of those beauties).
• Gather the rest of the salad ingredients together in a bowl.
• Add all dressing ingredients together and whisk until well combined.
• Add drained tomatoes to salad and toss with dressing.
• Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before serving (okay, this only happened because my husband started making the shrimp when I finished the salad, but I think it really helped).
• Season with more salt and pepper right before serving.

This salad was de-li-cious!  The feta and avocado did start to mush up, creating more dressing, essentially, so the pine nuts really helped to keep a different texture in the salad.  Here's where onions would have helped, too.  For us no-raw-onion people, though, hmm...shallots maybe?  Anyone have any suggestions?

Wordless Wednesday: At the Farmers' Market

   

 

She's Made of Chocolate...

(sometimes, so am I).

I found her at The Chocolate Museum in Quebec City.  I get a little wild-eyed, too, when I've had too much chocolate, but I'm of the opinion that a little bit is good for both body and soul.  So I was thrilled to find a "museum" (okay, it's really a chocolate shop, but they do have an interesting display of chocolate history, plus you can watch them making their wares) dedicated to my obsession, er, favorite treat.

Here's where, as a health counselor, I feel I should dive in to the health benefits of chocolate, and caution that, of course, organic is best and the darker the better.  And a little of the good stuff goes much farther than a lot of the so-so stuff.  And eating it earlier in the day is a great way for the weight-conscious to have their chocolate and eat it, too.  And while those things are true - in fact chocolate, in it's purest form (cacao beans), is so full of good stuff like antioxidants and vitamins and minerals that it's on a lot of Super Food lists - I just really like it.  And so I wanted to share.

Happy Monday!

Sorbet So Good!

Don't you just love it when something incredibly easy turns out to be incredibly good?

My husband and I were browsing in a bookshop when we came across a new Moosewood cookbook, Simple Suppers.  Well, we like simple, and we can always use some new simple ideas, so that book (and a few others - me like books!) came home with us.

There are some really interesting recipes, but the one that caught my eye (and my taste buds) first was for Mango Coconut Sorbet.  I don't have permission to re-print it here, but I can tell you it takes three ingredients, about 5 minutes to cube and puree and a few hours in the freezer to make a really delicious, refreshing and healthy dessert!  Shave some organic dark chocolate on the top and it's a little bowl of heaven.

So then I started thinking about how there are so many simple, healthy things to cook that don't take a lot of time, energy or money.  And I started wondering why sometimes even the simplest things seem like too much work after a long day.  Am I lazy?  No.  Do I not know how to cook?  Um, no.  Do I not like to cook?  No, that's definitely not it.  But some nights the motivation just isn't there.  And the take-out in my neighborhood, well, let's just say there's not a lot of whole food around here.  So it's a bit of a dilemma. 

When I first started living on my own, it took me a while to realize that I could have cereal for dinner if I wanted to.  Then for a while that's all I wanted to do.  Sometimes I'd have ice cream, or toast and jam.  It wasn't the healthiest diet...but I was an adult!  I could choose for myself!  And I was also 22 or 3 or 4, and pretty active.  These days, that's just not going to cut it.   Now I need to find ways to make a healthy meal, and the motivation to get out the pots and pans.  Here's what I've found works so far:

• Having stuff on hand, ready to go.  How many times have I looked at all those great veggies in the fridge and thought, nah, I don't feel like washing and chopping?  Hey, if buying them already chopped, or even frozen, will get me to eat them, then I'm going to buy them that way.
• Cooking once, eating as many times as possible.
• Growing my own food.  Having a garden, or even a pot or two of herbs, is incredibly motivating.
• When all else fails, going Nike on myself and just doing it.

I'm sure I can come up with more, and I'd love to hear your ideas.  How do you get a healthy meal on the table most nights?

Cool Stuff

In light of the incredible heat wave that's been hitting the Northeast, I thought I would present a list of my favorite cooling foods.  Incidentally, they also happen to be alkalinizing, which is the opposite of acidic, and a good thing to add in to your diet to help your body keep it's pH level balanced. 

1.  Cucumbers!  One of my very favorite vegetables, they have a lot of water to cool you down, they're naturally refreshing, and they help my tummy feel better when the acid is getting to be a nuisance. 

2.  Berries.  Any kind.  Just make sure they're fresh or frozen, not dried.  And definitely raw, no sugar added! 

3.  Watermelon.  Water + melon.  Need I say more? 

4.  Any melon.  Again, refreshing and yummy. 

5.  Gazpacho.  Check out this search and pick your favorite recipe (and let me know what it is!).

6.  Water.  Yep.  Water.  If you're not getting enough water, how are you going to sweat?  And if you don't sweat, how are you going to cool off?  (That's what it's for, after all.)  I prefer mine room temperature or only slightly above (the water, not the sweat).  That way my body doesn't have to go to work to warm it up to body temperature.  Which, by the way, can make you warmer.

7.  Dark Leafy Greens.  Love.  Them.  They're cooling, alkalinizing and detoxifying.  Plus all the vitamins and minerals.  Woohoo!

8.  Sun tea.  Put four or five bags of your favorite herbal tea in a pitcher with some water and set it in the sun for a few hours.  Enjoy!  (Okay, if you must, refrigerate and/or add some ice.)  There's something about the sun that makes it taste better than just ordinary brewing.  I dunno...

9.  Apples.  Nice, crisp, juicy apples.

10.  Carrots.  Great with hummus, which is a nice hot weather dish that's fast and easy to make and requires no heat at all (if you use canned (organic) beans).  Here's how I make it.

What do you eat to keep cool?  Here's to a cool and delicious summer!

I Have a Confession to Make

I used to be what you might call a coffee achiever.  When I was in my twenties, I could drink upwards of a pot of coffee a day.  In my thirties, I started to notice that I didn't sleep as well if I had coffee in the afternoon, so I started to cut down.  I even quit a few times.  But I kept drinking decaf (I know, eek!) and guarana tea (yerba mate), which I mistakenly thought was herbal.  Well, it is an herb, but it contains a WHOLE LOT of caffeine...  Then, when work got stressful, or I found myself doing too much to sleep enough, I started in with the coffee again.

Well, my coffee drinking days are behind me now.  I finally quit successfully when I realized that I needed to ADD IN more herbal teas and other things I enjoy drinking (not decaf!), in order CROWD OUT the coffee, rather than focusing on giving it up.  But I still have occasional nights when I can't sleep.  Like the other night, when I woke up at 2:30 a.m. and just couldn't get back to sleep.  By 5 I figured I might as well stay up for the day.  But boy was I wishing I still drank coffee when I got to work!  I even almost made myself a cup.  But then I thought about it and stepped away from the coffee pot.  I imagined how the coffee might make me feel (jittery), and also how it might keep me up the next night, too, and decided to make myself some twig tea instead.  (Nice smoky flavor, very eentsy bit of caffeine.)  But by mid-morning, I was really having trouble staying awake.  I thought about getting a chocolate bar, or breaking down and having that coffee, but I knew that neither of those things would do the trick, and would probably make matters worse.  Greens work wonders, but didn't seem like enough.  Then it hit me.  Protein!

I ate two hard-boiled eggs, and I was awake and alive for the rest of the day.

Now, this was an extreme situation.  And everybody needs differing amounts of protein, so I'm not suggesting that everyone run out and eat large quantities of it for extra energy.  But it was a revelation for me, and another breakthrough in my ongoing experiment with what works for me.  Woohoo!

What have you experimented with lately?  I'd love to hear about it!

Fiddlehead Ferns and Ramps, Oh My!

I was feeling adventurous at the market the other day. Lucky for me, it's Spring - when two of the most delicious, unusual and wonderful bits of produce are in season. I'd been hearing a lot about ramps (also known as wild leeks, depending on where you're from) this season - which I'd never heard of before. Boy am I glad I followed my instincts! Ramps are the most delicious cross between scallions and garlic. They're spicy all the way down to their greens (which make a great addition to a salad) and mellow beautifully when sauteed. They're also full of vitamins A and C, plus minerals. And they have the same good effects on cholesterol that garlic has. My husband decided to make "ramp bread" in much the same way one might make garlic bread - olive oil and ramps, a little salt, put it in the oven until toasty. Yum! The next morning I had ramps and eggs for breakfast.

The fiddlehead ferns are crunchy and very fresh, as well as a little nutty in flavor. And so interesting to look at! They also come packed with vitamins A and C. I found out that all ferns start out with a fiddlehead, but the most common to eat is the ostrich fern. I sauteed them with some garlic (although I could have used the ramps) and put them over buckwheat soba noodles with a few pine nuts for a light and easy dinner. (Note: fiddleheads should be cooked thoroughly - either by boiling or steaming, before consuming. Do not eat them raw.)

Here are the recipes:

Michael Pollan Tells Us Why to Bother

Please read this article, from Sunday's New York Times.  I'm off to plant some food...

Sometimes a Girl Just Needs a Bagel

I've discovered something.  Physical trauma makes me crave carbs.  Not the brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat kind of carbs.  I'm talking cookies, ice cream, and yes, bagels.

Let me backtrack a little.  I used to be a bagel-a-day girl.  I moved to New York City partly for the bagels.  (Okay that's stretching it a little, but not all that much...)  I was even a bagel snob.  Essa hands down over H&H, both over the usual deli kind for sure, and don't even get me started on frozen.